'Scary' moment opens door for Diamond

Thomas Diamond enjoyed his first major-league victory Wednesday as the Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 at Wrigley Field.

He just wished the circumstances were a little less scary.

Diamond, a rookie right-hander, had to come in during the third inning after left-hander Tom Gorzelanny was hit on his pitching hand by a wicked line drive off the bat of Jose Tabata.

Gorzelanny fell to the ground and came out of the game after trainer Mark O'Neal tended to him.

X-rays at Northwestern Memorial Hospital ruled out a displaced fracture, the Cubs said, but Gorzelanny will undergo a CT scan Thursday because there is some concern about the top of his left pinkie.

"It was pretty scary," Diamond said. "I actually thought Tom got hit a little bit worse than he did. They said it was in his hand. I thought it actually hit him in the face. It was good news to hear that it was a hand and not the face."

The Pirates got a run off Diamond in the third, and he was charged with another in the fifth, but he left with the Cubs ahead 3-2 on the strength of RBI doubles by Koyie Hill, Kosuke Fukudome and Tyler Colvin.

The Cubs outhit the Pirates 11-6. On the pitching side, Scott Maine, Andrew Cashner and Sean Marshall set up Carlos Marmol, who earned his 25th save.

The Cubs won a series from the Pirates for the first time this year.

"Everybody," manager Mike Quade said of the contributions. "The whole roster here. You're up against the wall pitching wise when that happens. Yesterday, we used a lot of people. I might have set a National League record for 2-for-1s (double switches)."

No call-ups yet: The Cubs did not make any call-ups from the minor leagues. Wednesday was the first day teams could expand their active rosters from 25.

Catcher Welington Castillo will be activated Friday, when the Cubs open a series with the Mets. Castillo has been at Wrigley Field this week because Geovany Soto has a sore knee.

The Cubs' Class AAA Iowa affiliate is battling for a playoff spot, and Class AA Tennessee is going to the postseason.

"I'm happy with the roster here," Mike Quade said. "We've got Castillo in the wings, and that's a good thing. The third catcher, to me, is first and foremost. The pitching situation has been good."

Darwin does it: Third baseman Aramis Ramirez didn't start because Mike Quade said it was a day off. Jeff Baker was supposed to start, but his Achilles tendon was acting up.

So Quade went with rookie Darwin Barney, who made a nice play behind the bag and also ended up with 2 singles. Barney entered Tuesday night's game at third base but said he had never played there except for one inning at Iowa last year and once in Little League before that. That's not counting two innings in spring training.

"That's been the biggest adjustment for me, making those changes defensively, positioning," Barney said. "I've been a shortstop my whole life coming up through the system. I didn't get much work anywhere else, either."