Cubs pummel Bucs starter in early blowout

Winless Josh Fogg was torched in Chicago's 12-1 romp.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Managers always talk about wanting their teams to play all nine innings. The Chicago Cubs are showing the Pittsburgh Pirates a different kind of game: one inning and done.
Corey Patterson had five hits and the Cubs scored eight runs in their second big first inning in two nights, leading them past the Pirates 12-1 Wednesday night.
Sergio Mitre pitched six shutout innings for his first major league win and Chicago had another huge night on offense.
Patterson went 5-for-6 with a first-inning double and an RBI, and Moises Alou and Derrek Lee had three RBIs each.
On fire
The Cubs have won six of eight -- four straight against the Pirates -- while averaging 8.2 runs in their last 10 games.
They are averaging 13 hits in their nine victories, including a 9-1 win Tuesday in which they opened a 4-0 lead in the first.
"Our guys are swinging the bat real well right now and putting a lot of pressure on them," Michael Barrett said.
"We're keeping our intensity during all our at-bats, even when we're ahead."
Mitre (1-0) struck out seven and limited the Pirates to four singles. He was 0-1 with a 5.91 ERA in his first five career games.
The Pirates have been outscored 21-2 in the first two games of the three-game series and 39-10 over their last four against Chicago.
So far in the series, Pirates starters Ryan Vogelsong and Josh Fogg have allowed 13 earned runs and 12 hits in five innings.
Fogg shelled
Vogelsong might have been tipping his pitches Tuesday. But the Cubs apparently didn't need any help in figuring out what Fogg was throwing.
Fogg (0-3) didn't retire any of the six batters he faced, though he didn't get much help from a leaky infield defense.
Fogg has a 17.00 ERA in three starts.
"It shows our guys are ready from the opening bell," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said.
"You get the first at-bat, so you might as well do something with it and they certainly did something with it tonight."
Fogg has been especially ineffective against the Cubs, allowing 14 earned runs and 12 hits in four innings.
He allowed four homers in a 10-5 loss Thursday at Wrigley Field.
Fogg kept the ball in the playing field this time, and that might have been his biggest mistake. After walking Todd Walker and Sammy Sosa around Patterson's double in the first, Alou followed with a two-run single.
Aramis Ramirez reached when first baseman Craig Wilson took the throw well off the bag on a seemingly routine grounder, and Lee hit a two-run double.
Wilson also threw home late on Walker's grounder later in the inning, failing to get anybody instead of taking the certain out at first and helping extend the Cubs' biggest inning in the last two seasons. They twice scored seven runs in an inning last season.
The Pirates didn't score until Abraham Nunez's RBI single in the ninth against Joe Borowski, the Cubs' fourth pitcher.
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