NATIONAL LEAGUE Lofton's baserunning ignites Pirates at PNC

The second-largest crowd of the season watched Pittsburgh beat the Cubs.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Runner on third, a routine popup to second. As the Cubs' Mark Grudzielanek pedaled backward into short right field, Aramis Ramirez was certain he had failed again in a potential scoring situation.
Then, in as little time as it takes a Kerry Wood fastball to reach home plate, Ramirez heard wild cheering. He was confused momentarily, then realized what had happened.
Kenny Lofton was tagging up and scoring on a ball that traveled barely 100 feet.
With Lofton's aggressive base running setting the tone, the Pittsburgh Pirates shrugged off six weeks' worth of lethargic play at home -- and poor attendance, too -- to beat Chicago 5-2 Wednesday night.
Satisfying home crowd
It's not yet Memorial Day, but the rain-abbreviated two-game series is the most important so far this season for the Pirates. If they had lost both games, they would have been nine games out of the NL Central lead with more than two-thirds of the season remaining.
"We've got to get some wins, especially at home," Lofton said, referring to the Pirates' 7-16 home record.
Only a couple of days after Kevin Young was critical of the Pirates' fan support, a crowd of 35,086 -- their second-largest at home this season -- turned out for a Bob Prince bobblehead doll giveaway.
The crowd booed loudly only once -- when Young pinch-hit in the eighth inning. By then, Jeff D'Amico (4-4) had limited the Cubs to two runs in 71/3 innings, his seventh effective performance in his last eight starts. He has yielded only two runs in 141/3 innings in his last two starts.
No doubt it helped D'Amico that Lofton's aggressive base running created the Pirates' first two runs against Wood (4-2), who failed for the fourth straight start to get his 50th career victory.
Lofton walked, stole second and scored on Ramirez's two-out single in the first. Lofton singled in the third to extend his hitting streak to 19 games, then made the play of the game by sneaking home from third.
"It's a chance you've got to take," said Lofton, who can recall making the play two other times. "You can't worry about getting caught. You have to follow your instincts. As soon as he goes back on his heels, you've got to go as hard as you can."