Lee homers twice for Bucs

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Carlos Zambrano spoiled former teammate Derrek Lee’s coming out party with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Chicago Cubs ace survived six choppy innings — and one long homer from Lee — to lead the Cubs to a 5-3 victory on Monday night and send the reeling Pirates to their fourth straight loss.

Zambrano (8-6) picked up his 13th career win over Pittsburgh, tied with Aaron Harang for second-most among active pitchers. The veteran right-hander struck out five and walked three while giving up seven hits. Carlos Marmol pitched a perfect ninth to collect his 21st save.

“I did what I was supposed to do,” Zambrano said.

And did what he’s always done against the Pirates, particularly at PNC Park. Zambrano improved to 8-1 all-time at the hitter-friendly yard and shook off a shaky July with his best outing — by the numbers anyway — since early June.

He had trouble with his command, throwing just 66 of his 114 pitches for strikes, but the Pirates failed to take advantage, leaving seven runners on base.

“Personally I feel like I’ve been throwing the ball good,” Zambrano said. “I was able to battle and pitch six innings.”

Lee ended up homering twice less than 48 hours after being acquired from Baltimore, but it wasn’t enough as the Pirates lost for the sixth time in eight games to slip further behind Milwaukee in the National League Central race.

The 35-year-old Lee spent six seasons in Chicago but swears he doesn’t have inside knowledge of Zambrano. He added he didn’t feel strange stepping in the box against Zambrano, noting he did the same last year after the Cubs shipped him to Atlanta.

Maybe, but his appearance in the batter’s box had an adverse affect on Chicago manager Mike Quade.

“It was sickening is what it was — weird has got nothing to do with it,” Quade said. “We’ve all watched him long enough and have so much respect for him, we know he’s capable of that.”

The Pirates, in first-place two weeks ago, are now just one game above .500 (54-53).

“It’s like when you’re on an airplane and the captain says, ‘Buckle your seatbelt, we’re going to hit some turbulence,”’ said Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle.