Nady happy to pitch in with pinch-hit

It was enough of a relief for Xavier Nady that he broke an 0-for-9 drought as a pinch hitter this year.

Nady's pinch single in the eighth inning drove in the go-ahead run in Sunday's 4-3 victory for the Cubs over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.

Overall, Nady was hitless in his last 10 pinch at-bats, with his previous pinch-hit coming in July 2008 while with the Pirates.

Even more important, Nady says his surgically repaired right elbow is feeling better, and it passed a test of back-to-back starts Friday and Saturday.

"I feel I could have played today," said Nady, who had Tommy John surgery last July while with the New York Yankees. "It's a big step. We'll just keep plugging away."

The Cubs have been hoping Nady will be 100 percent by June 1. He says that's no magic date but that he hopes to start testing the elbow with longer throws from right field.

"It's a day-to-day thing and see how it goes," he said. "I couldn't tell you when it will be. I'd like to start throwing to some bases a little harder and kind of see what I have in the tank so I can start throwing some balls home and see what percentage (he's at) instead of throwing to the cutoff man all the time. We'll see how that goes."