NATIONAL LEAGUE Pirates gain 5-3 win, move back into race

Pittsburgh has won eight of its last 12 games.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates are ready to make the National League Central race a little murkier.
Josh Fogg won his first home game of the season, and Matt Stairs drove in two runs as the Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies 5-3 Friday night.
The Pirates, starting a nine-game home-stand, have won eight of 12 and are seven games out of first place in the NL Central despite being 10 games below .500.
"We just have to keep playing the baseball we're playing," said reliever Mike Williams, who pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 21st save. "We're still making mistakes, but we're making improvements. We still have a shot. We're not 15 games back by any means."
Second-largest crowd
The Pirates scored three unearned runs in the fifth inning before the second-largest home crowd of the season (37,566). After starting the year 8-21 at PNC Park, the Pirates have won six of their past eight home games.
Fogg (4-3) allowed nine hits and two runs in 5 2-3 innings to win for the first time in four starts at home this season he was 0-2. He last won at PNC Park on Sept. 7 vs. Florida.
"Foggie lived on the edge all night and kept me on the edge, as well," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. "We thought if he could give us six innings, our bullpen would match up well."
The sellout crowd was the Pirates' third in a row after they failed to sell out their first 34 home games. They drew 36,856 for Saturday's interleague match-up against Cleveland and 37,803 on Sunday. Only twice before have the Pirates sold out three straight at PNC Park, which opened for the 2001 season.
"It's great when the fans are out there supporting you," Fogg said. "It's a tremendous feeling."
The Pirates' recent surge can be largely attributed to an improved bullpen and better hitting. They are one of only three teams in the NL that has raised its average each of the first three months of the season.
"They have a lineup that can jump up and bite you," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said.
Stairs delivers
Nobody has been batter than Stairs, who has 12 hits in his last 28 at-bats. Normally a right fielder, he made his third start at first base and gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead in the fourth when he pulled Jason Jennings' 3-1 pitch over the wall in right-center for his fifth homer of the season.
Stairs is 17-for-42 (.405) since returning from the DL (torn ligament in his right hand) and a brief rehabilitation stint at Triple-A Nashville.
"He went down and got consistent at-bats," McClendon said. "It got him in a groove."
The Pirates increased their lead to 5-1 in the fifth when Jennings (7-6) issued a full-count, bases-loaded walk to Aramis Ramirez as the crowd roared. Stairs then beat out a high chopper to second, driving in another run. Reggie Sanders followed with an RBI single up the middle, but center fielder Preston Wilson threw out Ramirez at home to end the inning. All three runs were unearned, thanks to an error by first baseman Todd Helton on Kenny Lofton's hard-hit ball.