Carlos Pena hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning to send the Cubs to a 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.Aramis Ramirez had a two-run double for the Cubs who took two of three against Cincinnati to earn a split of its six-game homestand. Starlin Castro and DJ LeMahieu each had two hits for the Cubs. Castro sparked the winning rally with a leadoff single against Logan Ondrusek (4-4). Reed Johnson moved Castro to second with a sacrifice before the Reds decided to intentionally walk Ramirez and bring in left-hander Bill Bray to face the lefty-batting Pena. Big mistake, at least Wednesday night. Pena pulled Bray’s first pitch onto Sheffield Avenue for his 26th homer and third in his last eight games. The big first baseman began the day with a .135 average against lefties, and Bray was holding lefty batters to a .188 average. But this time it didn’t work out for the Reds. Yonder Alonso had three hits for Cincinnati, which has lost seven of 10. Joey Votto went 2 for 4 and drove in a run. Kerry Wood (2-5) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory and Carlos Marmol worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 33rd save in 42 chances. The Reds chased starter Ryan Dempster with three consecutive hits to begin the seventh inning, including pitcher Johnny Cueto’s leadoff infield single. Votto hit a sacrifice fly off James Russell to trim the lead to 3-2 and Jay Bruce followed with a bouncer down the third-base line for an RBI double. The Cubs brought their infield in for Alonso, who hit a fly ball to medium center field. Johnson got in good position, brought it in, then fired a strong throw to catcher Koyie Hill that cut down Edgar Renteria at the plate. The Cubs got a big inning-ending double play in the sixth when Ramon Hernandez lined to shortstop Castro, who threw to LeMahieu before Alonso could get back to second base. Dempster allowed 10 hits — matching a season high — and is winless in his last five starts.Cueto retired 11 of his first 12 batters before running into a bit of trouble in the fifth. Pena led off with a double to right-center for the Cubs second hit. He moved up on a wild pitch and scored on LeMahieu’s tying two-out single, but Cueto got Hill to fly out to end the inning. The Cubs added two runs in the sixth on Ramirez’s clutch double. Castro sparked the rally with an infield hit on a dribbler up the third-base line. Johnson singled to center before Ramirez hit a drive into the corner in left to make it 3-1. Cueto allowed seven hits in seven innings and his ERA increased from 2.29 to 2.36.Cincinnati pushed across a run after Dempster quickly retired the first two batters of the game. Votto hit a well-placed fly ball to left that landed in front of Alfonso Soriano, then rolled past him for a triple. Bruce walked before Alonso hit a liner up the middle for an RBI single.

NOTES—Darwin Barney left the Cubs to be with his wife for the birth of their second child. Manager Mike Quade said he expects Barney will rejoin the team Friday in New York. … Reds RHP Mike Leake will make one more start this season. Manager Dusty Baker said the team will use a six-man rotation for one turn, inserting RHP Edinson Volquez, then Leake will drop out. Leake had 138 1/3 innings last year as a rookie and is up to 159 2/3 already this season. … The Cubs and Old Style-maker Pabst Brewing Co. announced the brew that has been available to fans since 1950 will be peddled at the Wrigley Field through 2013. Pabst threatened earlier this year to pull the beer from the ballpark. … The Cubs are off Thursday before opening a weekend series at the New York Mets. RHP Casey Coleman (2-7, 6.61 ERA) is scheduled to face Mets RHP Mike Pelfrey (7-11, 4.68) on Friday night. … The Reds are off Thursday, then begin a three-game series at Colorado on Friday night. Reds RHP Homer Bailey (7-7, 4.57 ERA) and Rockies RHP Jhoulys Chacin (11-10, 3.60 ERA) will meet in the opener. … A fan in the second deck made a solid catch on a foul ball in the fifth inning, but one of his friends lost his hat over the railing in the resulting celebration, drawing guffaws from the crowd of 36,797. He went down to the lower section to retrieve his cap, and got a small ovation from his section when he returned.

If this was Mike Leake’s final start of the year, he’ll have plenty of motivation when he reports to camp in February.Joey Votto hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the 13th inning and the Cincinnati Reds rebounded for a 4-2 victory over the Cubs after blowing a two-run lead in the ninth Tuesday night. Leake was closing in on his first career shutout when Starlin Castro reached on a two-out single and pinch-hitter Bryan LaHair drove a 2-0 pitch over the wall in right for the Cubs third hit of the game and his first homer since Sept. 20, 2008, for the Seattle Mariners. Leake bent over on the front of the mound as LaHair rounded the bases with the tying shot, but the Reds eventually recovered for their third win in nine games. Leake, the eighth overall pick in the 2009 draft, retired 14 consecutive batters before Darwin Barney reached on catcher’s interference in the seventh. The 23-year-old right-hander then got Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena to fly out to end the inning. Leake struck out six and walked none in a career-high nine innings. He needed only 65 pitches to get through seven innings and finished with 91 overall. Leake has thrown 159 2/3 innings this season after 138 1/3 last year as a rookie. Prior to Tuesday’s outing, Baker said he wasn’t sure if Leake would make another start this season and he was “getting close” to being shut down. Leake said he obviously still wants to pitch but understands the circumstances. Dave Sappelt hit a leadoff double against John Grabow (3-1) in the 13th inning and Votto followed with his second run-scoring double of the game. Miguel Cairo added a two-out RBI single to make it 4-2. Aroldis Chapman (4-1) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the victory and Francisco Cordero got three outs for his 321st career save, tying Jose Mesa for the most by pitcher from the Dominican Republic. It was his 31st save on the season. The Reds caught a break in the 12th when leadoff hitter Tony Campana hit a grounder to first and was called out on a close play. Replays indicated Campana beat Votto to the bag. Campana argued with umpire Tim Welke at first before Cubs manager Mike Quade came out and had an animated argument, then headed back to the dugout. Cubs starter Rodrigo Lopez allowed two runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.The Reds finally got to Lopez in the sixth inning. Sappelt led off with a single and scored from first on Votto’s double to right, ending a season-high 0-for-14 slide for the reigning NL MVP Votto scored on Devin Mesoraco’s double play ball to give the Reds a 2-0 lead. LaHair was one of the Cubs’ September callups after a successful season in Triple-A Iowa. He was leading the minors with 38 home runs and was batting .331 with 109 RBI when he was promoted Friday. It was his fourth career homer in the majors.

NOTES—The Cubs recalled LHP John Gaub, INF DJ LeMahieu and OF Lou Montanez from Triple-A Iowa. … Ryan Dempster will try to avoid losing his fourth straight start on Wednesday. … Reds RHP Johnny Cueto is Wednesday’s scheduled starter for the Reds. He leads the majors with a 2.29 ERA. … Reds OF Drew Stubbs came in the game as a pinch runner in the ninth.

MINNEAPOLIS—If this was Jake Peavy’s last start of the season, he’ll definitely be going out on a high note.Peavy struck out a season-high nine and Alex Rios homered to help the White Sox to a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.Peavy (7-7) allowed four hits and walked two in 6 1/3 innings against a Twins team that had three players who were called up from Double-A in the last two days. After the game, Peavy was asked about being shut down for the rest of the season. The 30-year-old right-hander has been plagued by shoulder problems for the last two years, and he said he was “worn down and tired” as the season enters its final month.Alejandro De Aza had two hits, including a triple, and an RBI, and Sergio Santos picked up his 29th save for the White Sox, who have won three in a row and eight of 12.Liam Hendriks (0-1) allowed three runs and four hits over seven innings in his major league debut. Chris Parmelee had two hits in his first game as a pro, but the Twins lost for the 14th time in 17 games.Paul Konerko, who hasn’t hit a homer in his last 60 at-bats, got a much-needed day off, but the White Sox still managed to scratch together enough offense for Peavy. Brent Morel added an RBI single as the Sox beat the Twins for the eighth time in the last nine games in the series.The White Sox are in the middle of a stretch of 28 straight games against the AL Central, but they only have three games left against division-leading Detroit. The Tigers beat the Indians 10-1 on Tuesday night, keeping the White Sox eight games back. There was a time when the Twins owned the White Sox, going 29-7 against them in a stretch that included six straight victories to open 2011. But the wheels have come off for a Twins team that expected to contend for a third straight division title.Calling up Hendriks, Parmelee and center fielder Joe Benson from Double-A New Britain gave the Twins three players in the starting lineup making their major league debuts for the first time in franchise history.Benson misplayed a fly ball from De Aza in the fifth inning, diving for it and letting it get past him for a triple. Morel followed with a single to give the White Sox a 3-0 lead.That was plenty for Peavy, who stranded runners on third base in the second and fourth innings but never really ran into trouble all night long.Joe Mauer went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, hearing plenty of boos when Matt Thornton got him swinging in the eighth. The Twins were shut out for the 12th time this season, tied a season high with 14 strikeouts and have managed just two runs in their last four games. They trail the Tigers by 22 games in the Central and were officially eliminated from the playoff race on Tuesday night.

NOTES—The Twins said Justin Morneau will go through early batting practice on Wednesday to test his concussion symptoms. Even though he is not on the DL, he will have to get approval from Major League Baseball before being cleared to return to the field. When he does, Morneau will only DH and not play 1B….The last team to debut at least three players in the starting lineup on the same day was the San Diego Padres, when they had four in 1986….The last time three Twins made their big league debuts in the same game was April 7, 1999, against Toronto, when Joe Mays, Dan Perkins and Mike Lincoln all came out of the bullpen….Guillen said he considered giving Konerko one of the games of Monday’s doubleheader off, but wanted to get him a full day’s rest. Konerko will be back in the lineup on Wednesday night…..Juan Pierre went 0 for 4 and remains two hits shy of 2,000 for his career…..RHP Carl Pavano (7-11, 4.60) takes the mound in the series finale on Wednesday night against John Danks (6-10, 4.01). Danks is just 2-7 on the road this season, the fourth-lowest winning percentage in the majors. But he’s 6-2 with a 2.85 ERA over his last 12 starts after starting the season 0-8 with a 5.25 ERA. Pavano is 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA in three starts against the Sox this year. He’s given up an AL-high 221 hits this season and has allowed nine or more in eight of his last nine starts.

MINNEAPOLIS—White Sox rookie Zach Stewart took a perfect game into the eighth inning and finished with a one-hitter, and they completed a doubleheader sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 4-0 victory on Monday night. The Twins were 21 up and 21 down against Stewart until Danny Valencia’s leadoff double in the eighth spoiled the right-hander’s bid to become the 21st rookie in major league history to throw a no-hitter.The White Sox won the afternoon game 2-1.The 24-year-old Stewart (2-3), whose only previous major league win came at Target Field last month, struck out nine in the first complete game of his career.This was Stewart’s fifth start for the White Sox — and eighth of his career — after being traded to the Sox by Toronto on July 27. Philip Humber and Chris Sale gave the Sox exactly what the team needed in game one.Humber pitched seven scoreless innings and the Sox Twins 2-1 Monday in the opener.Juan Pierre had three hits and scored a run for the White Sox, who survived a nervous ninth inning to end a four-game skid. With Minnesota having scored once in the bottom of the ninth, Sale, the team’s third pitcher of the inning, struck out Jason Repko with a man on first to end the game. These were the kind of wins the Sox needed because they came to Target Field after a weekend sweep in Detroit that dropped them 8½ games behind the Tigers in the AL Central with 25 games to play. During the four-game slide, Sox starters posted a 12.50 ERA while failing to get past the fifth inning. The White Sox bullpen wasn’t much better with a 9.19 ERA in that time. The Sox are now 8 games behind Detroit after the Tigers beat Cleveland 4-2.

Matt Garza pitched effectively into the eighth, Aramis Ramirez had a tiebreaking two-run single, and the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 on Monday. Garza (8-10) gave up six hits and three runs — one earned — while striking out eight and walking three to win for just the second time at home since June 27. He had to work around two errors, which increased the Cubs’ league-worst total to 118.Garza came in with just four wins in 14 starts at Wrigley Field despite a 2.76 home ERA. Carlos Marmol finished up for his 32nd save, setting down the Reds in order in his first appearance since allowing a two-out grand slam to Pittsburgh’s Derrek Lee on Saturday during his NL-worst ninth blown save. Ramirez had his two-run single in the fifth, walked twice and scored a run. Starlin Castro added a single, walk and two runs, which turned to be enough for Garza. Dontrelle Willis (0-5) allowed six hits and four runs over seven innings, striking out eight and walking five. Drew Stubbs singled, walked and scored a run, Yonder Alonso had two singles, a run and an RBI. Willis made his 200th career start looking for his first big-league win since June 5, 2010. He has won just three of his last 38 starts, going back to 2008.The Reds haven’t scored more than three runs for Willis in any of his 11 starts this season. With a game-time temperature of 62 degrees and a 21 mph wind howling in from center field, it was a day made for the pitchers.Stubbs walked and scored on Alonso’s single in the first to get the Reds on the scoreboard first. Willis retired the first nine Cubs in order, three by strikeout. He threw just 29 pitches in his first three innings, 24 for strikes.The left-hander lost track of the strike zone in the fourth, walking the bases full. Soriano tied the score with a first-pitch single to left but Willis recovered to leave the bases loaded. Willis got two quick outs in the fifth, but five straight Cubs hitters reached as they scored three runs. Castro singled with two outs. Willis could have escaped the inning, but Alonso couldn’t track down Reed Johnson’s high fly ball into the swirling wind in left. The ball stuck in the ivy, sending Castro back to third. Ramirez then lined a single to left, putting the Cubs up 3-1. Two batters later, Willis threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded, driving in Ramirez and capping the Cubs’ rally. The Reds cut the lead to two when Alonso scored an unearned run on a Mesoraco’s groundout in the seventh, the rookie’s first career RBI. Cincinnati pulled within a run when Castro misplayed Joey Votto’s grounder in the eighth, allowing Brandon Phillips to score.
NOTES—The Cubs activated RHP Andrew Cashner (strained right rotator cuff) from the 60-day disabled list. Cashner hasn’t pitched in the majors since suffering the injury on April 5, his only outing of the season. Mesoraco made his first big-league start as Willis’ battery mate. The pair worked together at Triple-A Louisville, where Willis went 5-2 earlier this season. The area around Bronson Arroyo’s left knee was wrapped and the righty walked with a slight limp before Monday’s game, but Baker said he expected Arroyo to make his next start. Arroyo was hit in the fleshy area above the knee by a Rafael Furcal liner drive on Sunday. Mike Leake starts on Tuesday for Cincinnati against the Cubs’ Rodrigo Lopez. Leake leads the Reds with 11 wins on the season.

DETROIT—Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in four runs, and the Detroit Tigers finished a three-game sweep in emphatic fashion, routing the all but dead White Sox 18-2 on Sunday night.Max Scherzer (14-8) allowed five hits over seven scoreless innings, and Alex Avila had a career-high four hits for Detroit, which leads the AL Central by 6½ games heading into a three-game series at second-place Cleveland. The Sox are 8½ back. Mark Buehrle (11-7) allowed seven earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. The Tigers trailed 8-1 in the fifth Saturday before rallying to win 9-8. They’d scored 26 consecutive runs and led 18-0 Sunday when the White Sox finally scored two in the ninth.

Randy Wells pitched six strong innings and Marlon Byrd drove in two runs as the Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.Wells was impressive again after pitching his first career shutout in Monday’s 7-0 win over the Giants. He pitched a two-hitter to outduel Tim Lincecum in his first-career complete game. Wells (7-4) allowed one run while scattering seven hits. He struck out two and walked two. He is 6-1 over his last eight outings after going 0-3 with a 7.38 ERA in his first nine starts once returning from the disabled list. In the last month, Well is pitching more like his 2009 season, when he led all rookies with a 3.05 ERA. Sean Marshall pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save in eight chances. Cubs closer Carlos Marmol had the day off after blowing Saturday’s save and throwing 39 pitches.The Cubs won just for the third time in 10 games. Pirates starter Charlie Morton (9-9) allowed four runs, three earned on seven hits. He struck out two and walked five and was done in by two errors by shortstop Ronny Cedeno.Neil Walker hit a two-run shot in the eighth and Derrek Lee had three hits for the Pirates, who have lost six of eight. The Cubs had runners on first and second with no outs in the first three innings, but failed to score until the third thanks to Cedeno’s error. Trailing 1-0, Carlos Pena hit a sharp grounder to Walker at second base. Walker made a low throw to Cedeno, who was covering second to get one out, but Cedeno’s throw to Lee at first was wide, allowing Tony Campana to score from second on the overthrow.With two outs in the fourth inning and Koyie Hill on second, Starlin Castro hit a grounder to third baseman Josh Harrison. Harrison fielded the grounder, but his throw to first took Lee off the base so Lee attempted to tag Castro. First baseman umpire Jim Wolf ruled Lee’s tag did not make contact with Castro. Hill, who never stopped on the base paths ended up scoring from second on the play. Lee argued with Wolf and Pirates manager Clint Hurdle came out of the dugout to also have an animated discussion with Wolf to no avail. The Cubs added to its lead in the fifth. With runners on first and second and no outs, LaHair hit a ball that brushed Morton’s jersey. Cedeno fielded the grounder but the ball rolled out of his mitt, allowing LaHair to reach safely on the error.With the bases loaded, Byrd hit a sacrifice fly. Hurdle pulled Morton after he hit Darwin Barney with a pitch to load the bases again. Pirates reliever Tony Watson got Hill to hit a bouncer back to him, but the ball pulled him off the mound forcing him to go to first to get the out, which allowed Pena to score and make it 4-1. LaHair hit a two-out, RBI bloop single off Watson in the sixth inning to make it 5-1. LaHair finished with two hits in his season debut. After hitting a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth during Saturday’s win, Lee hit an opposite field RBI single in the first inning to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Since joining the Pirates, all nine of Lee’s RBI have come against the Cubs.Lee is 6 for 9 with a grand slam since returning from the disabled list Saturday. Walker hit a two-run homer off Cubs reliever Jeff Samardzija in the eighth inning. It was Walker’s 12 of the season. Byrd added an insurance run in the eighth for the Cubs with an RBI single off Pirates reliever Jose Veras.

NOTEAS—Matt Garza is Monday’s scheduled starter against the Reds. He is 0-2 with 5.06 ERA in three career starts against the Reds. … Pena had a career-high four walks. Pena has reached base 10 consecutive times.

Safety Brandon Meriweather may have made the Pro Bowl the past two seasons, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Patriots from cutting him Saturday. He wasn’t out of work long, however. New England’s 2007 first-round pick signed with the Bears Sunday, the team announced.It’s a one-year contract, which suggests that the Bears aren’t completely convinced Meriweather is a long-term answer in the secondary. If anything, he adds depth and experience, something the Bears lost in Thursday night’s preseason finale when backups Craig Steltz and Chris Conte suffered a hip injury and a concussion, respectively. The Bears do not have to make a corresponding roster move to make room for Meriweather until he officially signs his contract. Meriweather, 27, started 40 games during his four-year stint in New England, recorded 261 tackles and 12 picks. However, his Patriots career might best be remembered for the vicious hit on Todd Heap during the 2010 season that led to a $50,000 fine and a vow to remain aggressive, “point blank.”

DETROIT—By the time Miguel Cabrera came to the plate in the ninth inning, the Detroit Tigers had already erased a seven-run deficit.Cabrera needed only one swing to cap one of baseball’s best comebacks of the season.The big first baseman hit a game-ending solo homer Saturday, lifting the Tigers to a 9-8 win over the White Sox.Detroit trailed 8-1 in the fifth inning and 8-6 in the ninth, but Ryan Raburn tied it with a two-run shot off Sergio Santos, and Cabrera won it one out later with his 25th homer of the year.Detroit extended its lead to 7 ½ games over third-place Chicago in the AL Central. Second-place Cleveland was at Kansas City on Saturday night.It was only the fifth time this season a team rallied from a deficit of at least seven runs to win.
“I think every loss hurts when you play this game or when you compete,” Ozzie Guillen said. “But this one is very painful. This game was huge for us. It was a very important game.”
Santos (3-4) hadn’t allowed a run in his previous 30 road appearances, dating to last season.Luis Marte (1-0) earned his first big league win with a perfect top of the ninth.The game was delayed 36 minutes in the eighth by rain.Alexei Ramirez’s three-run homer highlighted a five-run fourth for the White Sox, and Alejandro De Aza and Brent Morel added back-to-back solo homers in the fifth off Brad Penny.The Tigers began their comeback with three runs in the fifth on an RBI triple by Austin Jackson and a two-run homer by Delmon Young. Wilson Betemit’s solo shot in the seventh made it 8-5.By the eighth, the weather looked increasingly threatening, with wind blowing debris around and lightning visible in the distance. The teams played through that, thunder and eventually some hard rain before finally leaving the field with one out in the bottom of the inning, moments after fans had been told to retreat to the concourse.Jhonny Peralta hit an RBI single soon after the game resumed, but the Sox still carried a two-run lead into the ninth.With one out, Jackson came up with another triple for his fourth hit of the game. Raburn followed with a 424-foot homer down the left-field line.After Young struck out, Cabrera ended it with his 420-foot shot to left.Penny allowed eight runs — four earned — and 10 hits in five innings.Gavin Floyd allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings. He struck out four.The Sox big inning was aided by a couple defensive mishaps by Detroit. Second baseman Carlos Guillen made an error on a grounder, enabling the White Sox to load the bases with one out. Gordon Beckham followed with a tiebreaking RBI single to make it 2-1. Juan Pierre then hit a grounder to first, and Cabrera threw home for the force. Catcher Alex Avila threw back to first, trying for an inning-ending double play, but the ball appeared to hit Pierre and bounced away, allowing another run to score.Avila was charged with an error, and Leyland came out to argue, apparently contending that Pierre was out of the baseline. The play stood, and Ramirez followed with his 14th homer of the year to make it 6-1.A.J. Pierzynski opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the top of the first, and Cabrera tied it with an RBI double in the bottom half. Cabrera’s hit was reviewed by the umpires, but it appeared to have hit the top of the wall in right-center field.There was no doubt about Cabrera’s shot in the ninth.

NOTES—Cabrera reached base for the 30th consecutive game…..Avila struck out three times and failed to reach base for the first time in 29 games….The temperature at game time was 95 degrees…..Ozzie Guillen said it was uplifting to hear that reliever Shane Lindsay’s mother had been able to travel from Australia on short notice to see her son’s major league debut in Friday night’s 8-1 loss. “I don’t get too sensitive about too much stuff, and that one made me forget how bad we played,” Guillen said. “There’s nothing better than when your kids have success. That’s one of the biggest thrills you can have as a parent.”….The White Sox send Mark Buehrle to the mound against Max Scherzer in the series finale Sunday night…..Both teams will have to travel for Monday day games after that. The Tigers play at Cleveland and the White Sox have a day-night doubleheader at Minnesota.

The last time Derrek Lee faced Carlos Marmol, the Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman wound up with an injury that kept him out for more than three weeks. Marmol probably wishes Lee would have missed one more day.Lee came off the disabled list and hit a go-ahead grand slam off Marmol with two outs in the ninth inning to lift Pittsburgh over the Cubs 7-5 on Saturday.Lee’s shot to left through the rain at Wrigley Field handed Marmol, an ex-teammate, his NL-high ninth blown save. Marmol (2-5) gave up a single and three walks in the inning.Batting cleanup, Lee had three hits and five RBI in the game, a performance that caught the 14-year veteran by surprise. He had been sidelined since Aug. 10 with a broken bone in his left wrist after getting hit by a pitch from Marmol on Aug. 3.

“The last two days outside, my swing felt terrible. So I was just hoping to make contact today,” Lee said. “Turned out to be a good day.”

Lee was acquired from Baltimore on July 30 and is 8 for 23 (.348) with three homers, a triple and eight RBI in six games with Pittsburgh. All those homers and RBI have come at the expense of the Cubs, the team he played for from 2004 until the trade deadline last season, when he was dealt to Atlanta.Lee thought he hit the home run ball even better than he did.The game was delayed for 91 minutes in the seventh because of rain, which Marmol suggested might have contributed to his struggles.As the teams waited out the rain, Lee was just hoping the Pirates would get another opportunity.

“Sitting there for an hour down by two, don’t even know if we’re going to get a chance to go back out there,” Lee said. “So to load the bases off Marmol, who we all know is hard to hit off of, it’s just a good team effort.”

Chris Resop (5-4) threw two scoreless innings in relief and Joel Hanrahan got three outs for his 34th save.Alex Presley had three hits and scored a run for Pittsburgh.While the Pirates were glad to have Lee back in the lineup, it’s hard not to wonder if their once-promising season might not have gone sideways had their new cleanup hitter been healthy.Alfonso Soriano matched his season high with four RBI for the Cubs, including a two-run double in the seventh. Aramis Ramirez reached base four times and scored three runs, while Carlos Pena reached in all five plate appearances.Cubs starter Casey Coleman threw six strong innings, allowing six hits and two runs — one earned — while striking out six. He entered 0-4 with an 11.44 ERA in six outings at Wrigley Field this season.Ross Ohlendorf allowed seven hits and three runs in four innings for the Pirates.

“They’re a very young team,” Lee said. “They’re kind of finding their way but they play hard, they play the game the right way. They’re learning every day and they’re going to continue to get better.”

The Cubs stranded runners in each of the first five innings and went 2 for 15 with men in scoring position. They’ve hit just .176 in those situations since the beginning of August, but Soriano provided some clutch hitting with a sacrifice fly in the third and an RBI single in the fifth.The Pirates tied it against Kerry Wood in the seventh when former Cub Ronny Cedeno tripled and scored on pinch-hitter Garrett Jones’ sacrifice fly.

NOTES—September has been kind to Presley, who had a double and two singles. In three games since the calendar turned, the swift left fielder has gone 8 for 13 with four extra-base hits, two RBI and four runs scored….Andrew McCutchen was in Pittsburgh’s starting lineup. He left Friday’s game after being hit by a pitch on his left hand in his first at-bat. He has reached base in his last 30 games against the Cubs…..Resurgent Randy Wells will start for the Cubs in Sunday’s series finale. Wells has won his last four starts and is coming off a two-hit shutout of San Francisco. RHP Charlie Morton goes for the Pirates.