Pittsburgh, PA – Garrett Jones' RBI double in the sixth inning proved to be the difference, as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2, to avoid a three-game sweep.
Michael McKenry and Neil Walker added solo homers for the Pirates, who went 4-2 on a six-game homestand.
Kevin Correia (8-6) gave up two runs on four hits over six innings to win his sixth straight decision. He struck out four and walked two.
"I'm out there to try to get wins, and that's about it," Correia said. "At this point in my career, I'm not terribly concerned with my ERA. I want to go out there and I want to win games for the team. However that has to happen, I'm happy to get it done that way."
Anthony Rizzo hit a solo homer and knocked in both of Chicago's runs. Ryan Dempster (5-5), a hot topic of trade rumors, allowed three runs on five hits over six innings to take the loss.
Reports surfaced Monday that Dempster was en route to Atlanta, but no official deal has been worked out. Because he's a 10-year veteran and has five years of service with the Cubs, he can refuse any deal and reportedly his preference is to be dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"I had a job to do today and that's really important to me so I had to try to separate the two things," Dempster said. "I have tonight and an off-day [Thursday] to look at a couple different things and see what the possibilities are."
The score was 1-1 after Rizzo and Walker homered in the first inning.
Chicago tacked on another run in the third. With one out, David DeJesus hit a deep fly ball to center field. It was ruled a ground-rule double due to fan interference. Rizzo knocked in DeJesus with a two-out single to right-center field.
Dempster retired 13 straight batters before giving up a two-out homer to McKenry in the fifth, which made it a 2-2 game. McKenry's blast hit off the left-field foul pole.
The Pirates then took the lead during their next at-bat. Alex Presley and Andrew McCutchen singled to put men on the corners with two outs. Jones followed with an RBI double to right.
Jared Hughes, Jason Grilli and Joel Hanrahan each tossed a scoreless inning of relief to seal the victory.
Game Notes
The Pirates lead the season series by a 4-2 margin...Correia improved to 4-4 in 14 career appearances against the Cubs...Chicago went 2-4 on a six-game road trip...Hanrahan picked up his 29th save of the season.
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