Cubs rally for 8-5 win over Bucs

Reed Johnson and Alfonso Soriano hit eighth-inning homers to lead the way.

CHICAGO (AP) — Reed Johnson raised his right arm as soon as the ball left his bat, and he popped out of the dugout moments later for a curtain call.

Alfonso Soriano simply added to the frenzy.

Johnson and Soriano hit back-to-back homers in the eighth, and the Chicago Cubs escaped with an 8-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday after blowing a three-run lead in the top half of the inning.

The home runs lifted the Cubs to their seventh win in eight games and capped a strange afternoon that saw Carlos Zambrano leave after five strong innings even though he was not hurt.

Chicago (67-45) moved 22 games above .500 for the first time since 1989, when it won 93 games, but what looked like an easy win turned dramatic in the eighth.

The winning rally started when Craig Hansen (0-1) walked Geovany Soto with two outs. Sean Burnett came in, and Johnson drove an 0-2 pitch to left and the celebration started.

Soriano gave the fans more to cheer when he sent a 1-2 pitch from Burnett to the seats in left, making it 8-5. Carlos Marmol came in and pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save in eight chances.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who come off the bench that I think could start on other teams,” Johnson said. “Guys that when they do play, they’re always contributing and that’s what you want.”

This time, Johnson came through after Chad Gaudin (3-1) allowed the tying two-run homer to Andy LaRoche in the eighth.

The drama started before the top of the sixth when Cubs manager Lou Piniella decided to bring in Jeff Samardzija even though the Cubs had a 5-2 lead and Zambrano had retired 12 in a row.

Zambrano, who had completed his warmups, left to a standing ovation, raising his right index finger on his way to the dugout.

Samardzija left with one out in the eighth after allowing just one hit while striking out one and walking one in 21‚Ñ3 scoreless innings, but Neal Cotts and Gaudin could not hold the lead. Cotts gave up a double to Doug Mientkiewicz. After Nate McLouth popped out, Ryan Doumit singled to right, making it 5-3.

Piniella brought in Gaudin, and LaRoche drove a 3-2 pitch out to left to tie it.

Zambrano allowed just three hits, struck out two and walked one while throwing just 82 pitches after going 4-1 last month.

The Cubs are trying to preserve Zambrano, who threw 125 and 118 pitches in his previous two starts.