Pirates rally in the ninth to defeat the Cubbies

Associated Press

CHICAGO

Neil Walker just kept coming around third and with a hard slide he capped a two-run rally in the ninth inning against Cubs closer Carlos Marmol that sent the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory Sunday.

What a way to kick off the season.

The Pirates took two of three against Chicago in the three-game set. They won only four road series last year — two at Wrigley Field.

“It goes back to the aggressive baserunning trend, try to be smart and try to be aggressive,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “Nick [Leyva] is a very aggressive third base coach and Neil plays the game that way when he’s on the bases.

“Once he saw the play develop from second base, he knew there was a very good shot he was going to pull something off and he did.”

With the Cubs leading 4-3, Pittsburgh’s Garrett Jones led off the ninth with a walk against Marmol (0-1) and Walker singled before Lyle Overbay sacrificed to put runners at second and third.

Pedro Alvarez hit a slow roller to shortstop Starlin Castro. As Jones raced home, Castro’s throw to first pulled Carlos Pena off the bag and Walker rounded third. Pena threw to the plate, but Walker made a hard slide under Cubs catcher Geovany Soto to score the go-ahead run.

“My goal was just to score,” Walker said. “I knew [Castro] had a tough play and if he comes up and picks that ball clean and makes a good throw to first, he still has to make a really good throw to home to get me. ... I don’t know if he [Leyva] tried to hold me or not, but my goal was to be at home and fortunately I was and it ended up being a big play.”

Jeff Karstens (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Joel Hanrahan the ninth for his second save, getting Marlon Byrd to hit into a game-ending double play after an error by Pirates shortstop Ronny Cedeno helped the Cubs put runners at first and third.

“A tough one for sure,” Chicago manager Mike Quade said.

“Carlos [Pena] did a heck of a job fielding it and nearly throwing the guy out at home. Seems like one of those days where there was a lot of stuff.”

Pittsburgh’s rally prevented Matt Garza from getting a victory in his Cubs debut. He left with a 4-3 lead after allowing 12 singles and striking out 12 in seven innings.

Both the hits allowed and strikeouts were career highs for Garza.

All 16 of the Pirates’ hits were singles.