Baker, Gorzelanny lift Cubs past Pirates, 3-1
Neither Jeff Baker nor Tom Gorzelanny was with the Cubs when this season began. And neither has had his name mentioned as a prominent player down the stretch.
But both took leading roles in Saturday's 3-1 victory Saturday over the Pittburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.
Gorzelanny worked 5 serviceable innings against his former team and picked up the victory.
Baker drove a run home with a single in the first inning, and he homered to lead off the sixth as the Cubs won their second straight against the lowly Pirates.
"To get where we want to be, it's going to take more than the 25 guys that are in here right now," said Baker, who came over from the Rockies in a July 2 trade. "There have been guys who have come up and went down. There are probably going to be guys that come up and give us a lift in September.
"It's not one guy who's going to be able to carry us. It's going to be everybody contributing."
Baker seems to have won the second-base job away from Mike Fontenot. Gorzelanny is holding a rotation spot until Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano come off the disabled list.
Against the Pirates Saturday, Gorzelanny gave up 3 hits and 1 run.
"It was like facing any other team," said Gorzelanny, who came to the Cubs in a July 30 trade with Pittsburgh. "It was definitely a weird feeling seeing those guys, kind of coming up with a bunch of those guys and seeing them on the other side. I took it like it was just another team, another game I'm trying to win."
Baker gave Gorzelanny a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single up the middle. Gorzelanny helped himself with a run-scoring single to center in the second off fellow lefty Zach Duke. He seemed to like that better than the 8 strikeouts he piled up while on the mound.
"It was a good thing," he said. "I knew, actually I didn't know, I thought he would start me off with a breaking ball, and I was just kind sitting fastball. If it was anything near, I was going to swing. I was lucky enough to break my bat and hit it up the middle, and everybody missed it."
Duke worked 71/3 against the Cubs, who put across 17 runs Friday. Baker provided the bullpen a little breathing room when he homered to left-center off Duke in the sixth.
"Whatever it takes," said Baker, who also has played first base and third base. "I just want to win. I want to play in the postseason. That's what it's really all about. You always try to make the most of your opportunities."
The Cubs' top three relievers made this an uneventful finish. Angel Guzman worked the sixth and seventh, with Carlos Marmol setting up for Kevin Gregg, who earned his 23rd save.
"We finally got our bullpen where now we're at least a lot more rested," said manager Lou Piniella, whose team is 60-55. "We're getting ourselves back to, bullpen wise, at least to where we're in pretty good shape again."
<p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>Bruce Miles' game tracker</b></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">Baker's the man: Second baseman Jeff Baker extended his hitting streak to seven games, during which he has gone 14-for-28. He's two games shy of tying his career-best hitting streak.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">Riotous: Shortstop Ryan Theriot picked up an infield single in the second inning to extend his hitting streak to nine games. He's 17-for-42 (.405) during the streak with five multihit games. </p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">Simply angelic: Reliever Angel Guzman worked 2 innings for the 10th time this season. Since May 8, he has lowered his ERA from 4.11 to 2.42.</p>