Cubs' dominance against Pirates continues with 8-5 win

Looking for reasons to believe the Cubs can still be a factor in the NL wild card race? Well, they still have four games remaining against the Pittsburgh Pirates, from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 at Wrigley Field.

By beating Pittsburgh 8-5 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep, the Cubs improved to 26-6 against the Pirates since Sept. 21, 2007.

Carlos Zambrano (8-6) recorded his first win since July 22 at Philadelphia, but didn't appear very happy when he took the mound for warmup tosses in the seventh inning, then was removed from the game by manager Lou Piniella before throwing a pitch for real. The Pirates sent left-handed hitter Ramon Vazquez to the plate and Piniella brought in lefty John Grabow from the bullpen.

After Zambrano walked off the mound briskly, he and Piniella had an animated conversation in the dugout.

"I wanted to pitch another inning but it's Lou's decision," Zambrano told reporters after the game. "Everybody thought we were arguing. We weren't. We were talking normally. Every time Lou talks, it seems like he's mad. The way he moves his hands, it looks like he's mad. He's very professional."

Zambrano, who threw 98 pitches, struck out eight while allowing 2 runs and 5 hits in his 6 innings. He had a couple of rough starts after being sidelined by a sore back. In his two outings on this road trip, he gave up just 3 runs in 12 innings.

"I think he wanted to stay a little longer, but like I told him, let's just build," Piniella said. "Let's get you stronger and stronger. That was the conversation we had on the mound. I told him, 'Next time if you want, we won't warm anybody up and we'll let you pitch 9 innings.' I don't think he liked that one."

"He told me, 'Don't get angry' in Spanish," Zambrano added. "I said, 'I'm not angry, I just want to pitch one more inning.' He told me next time I will pitch a complete game and he will let me pitch 200 pitches. Complete game, no matter what."

In the past nine games, Cubs starting pitchers have posted a 1.74 ERA.

The Cubs led 3-0 after three innings, but their advantage slipped to 3-2 by the time Micah Hoffpauir, subbing for Milton Bradley, belted his second home run in as many days leading off the fifth.

In the seventh, a Hoffpauir double put runners on second and third with nobody out. Eventually, the Cubs had the bases loaded with two out when catcher Koyie Hill delivered a clutch single to right, scoring a pair of runs.

The Cubs increased the lead to 8-2 in the eighth on a Hoffpauir sacrifice fly and an RBI single from Mike Fontenot.

Homer-prone reliever Kevin Gregg gave up a 3-run shot to ex-Cub Ronny Cedeno in the eighth, making it 8-5. Carlos Marmol came on to retire the side in order in the ninth.

Since taking over the closer's role from Gregg last month, Marmol is 7-for-7 in save situations. In those seven games, he's given up no runs and just 2 hits, while striking out 12 in 71/3 innings.

Kevin Hart (4-6), the winning pitcher when the Cubs completed their last road sweep at Washington on July 19, was the loser for the Pirates on Wednesday. Hart allowed 6 walks in 5 innings.

Mike McGraw's game tracker

Cubs 8, Pirates 5

Pirate pillage: The Cubs continued to pound Pittsburgh, completing a series sweep on Wednesday. Micah Hoffpauir homered for the second straight day and was one of five Cubs to get two hits.

Big Z heats up: Winning pitcher Carlos Zambrano and manager Lou Piniella had an animated conversation in the dugout after Zambrano was pulled from the mound before throwing a pitch in the seventh inning. On Tuesday night, reliever Angel Guzman seemed to take exception to being pulled in the middle of an at bat.

Unnecessary save: The Pirates cut an 8-2 deficit in half when ex-Cub Ronny Cedeno drilled a 3-run homer in the eighth off reliever Kevin Gregg. On the bright side, that set up a save situation for Carlos Marmol, who is 7-for-7 since taking over the closer role from Gregg last month.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Audio</h2> <ul class="audio"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=23&type=audio&item=23">Bruce Miles on ESPN 1000 </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>