CHICAGO — For six innings this afternoon, the Pirates and Chicago Cubs plodded along in a rather mundane game.
Then things heated up.
In the seventh, the Pirates tied the score and indirectly helped cause a stir. In the eighth, Reed Johnson struck a big blow and sent the Cubs to a 5-2 victory.
Johnson won the game with a solo home run off reliever Jesse Chavez (0-2). Later in the inning, Andres Blanco's double to right field scored Geovany Soto from first base. Jake Fox, called up earlier in the day from Triple-A, added an RBI double to center off Sean Burnett.
The Pirates tied the game 2-2 by scoring a run in the raucous seventh inning.
Nyjer Morgan began the inning with a seemingly innocent single to left field. When Alfonso Soriano casually tried to scoop up the ball, it rolled past his glove. Morgan wound up at third on the two-base error.
Delwyn Young fouled out. On a 1-1 count, righty Carlos Zambrano threw a wild pitch. Catcher Geovany Soto got to the ball quickly and tossed it to Zambrano at the plate.
Morgan slid in hands-first ahead of Zambrano's tag. Video replays indicated umpire Mark Carlson's safe call was correct.
However, Zambrano disagreed — loudly — a few inches from Carlson's face.
As Zambrano turned away, Carlson took a small step forward. The two bumped shoulders; it appeared to be incidental contact, yet Zambrano was immediately ejected.
Zambrano gestured that he believed Carlson also should be booted. As he walked to the dugout, Zambrano heaved the ball into center field.
With two outs and the crowd still grumbling, Adam LaRoche tagged a ball to deep center field. Reed Johnson crashed into the ivy as he made the catch, and hung onto the ball for the final out.
The Cubs scored twice in the first inning, with a little help from an errant throw.
With one out, Ryan Theriot singled to center. Milton Bradley tripled into the right field corner.
Derrek Lee, back in the lineup after missing three games due to an illness, walked. Reed Johnson hit a routine grounder to shortstop Ramon Vazquez, who flipped the ball to second baseman Delwyn Young to force Lee at second.
However, Young's throw short-hopped first baseman Adam LaRoche and bounced over his head into foul territory. Instead of the Pirates turning an inning-ending double play, Bradley scored from third base.
Zambrano escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second inning. In the fourth, the Vazquez's two-out single scored Adam LaRoche to make it 2-1.
