09/08/2007 11:20 PM ET Zambrano bounces back vs. Pirates Cubs ace ends five-start losing streak with solid outing By George Von Benko / Special to MLB.com PITTSBURGH -- The Chicago Cubs got just what they needed from ace right-hander Carlos Zambrano on Saturday night -- a solid start. "Zambrano pitched a good ballgame," Cub's manager Lou Piniella said. "He gave us six-plus and pitched very well. It was good to see, get him back on track. Zambrano shut down the hot-hitting Pittsburgh offense in a 5-1 win in front of 33,373 fans at PNC Park, and snapped a career-high five-game losing streak. He hurled six-plus innings and allowed one run on two hits and notched eight strikeouts to raise his record to 15-12. "It's good to see your No. 1 starter win after what, seven or eight starts?" Piniella said. "I had a nice talk with him and the pitching coach the other day and said, 'Put all that behind you. We need a strong finish from you and that's what's important.' Today, he rewarded us with a really good performance." "I was feeling good today, and everything was good today," Zambrano said. "We won the game, and that's the most important thing. I was feeling good, and I think since my last two or three starts I've been feeling good. I've been giving up a lot of cheap hits, and [pitching coach] Larry [Rothschild] talked to me the other day and said that I've been giving up a lot of runs after two outs. I tried to make adjustments with two outs, and that's what was effective today." Pirates starter Ian Snell was tagged with the loss, falling to 9-12 on the season. Snell surrendered four runs (three earned) on seven hits in seven innings of work. The Cubs jumped on Snell in the top of the first inning for a 1-0 lead. Ryan Theriot tripled down the right-field line and scored on a single by Derrek Lee. "We jumped out in front in the first inning, which is good to see us score early in the ballgame," said Piniella. Chicago tacked on two more runs in the top of the fifth inning. Alfonso Soriano smacked a two-run homer to left, upping the Cubs lead to 3-0. It was home run No. 23 for Soriano. "This is a big ballpark," Piniella offered. "The air was heavy and it wasn't carrying very well. [Aramis] Ramirez hit one earlier, and [Freddy] Sanchez hit one for them, and they didn't even make it to the fence. Then the ball Soriano hit -- when he hit it, I thought it was way out of the ballpark, and it surprised the heck out of me that the left fielder almost caught it and made a play. You've got to be a man to hit it out of this park, especially when the air is heavy like it was tonight." "When I hit it, I thought the ball would go farther," Soriano explained. "I thought I had very good contact and a good at-bat. I put a very good swing on it." A double by Jason Kendall and errors by Nyjer Morgan and Adam LaRoche added up to a Cubs run in the seventh and a 4-0 advantage. Zambrano cruised into the seventh inning before he ran into trouble, giving up a single to LaRoche and walking two batters to load the bases. The Cubs brought in right-hander Carlos Marmol, who put down the uprising with minimal damage, giving up only a sacrifice fly to Jack Wilson to cut the Cubs' lead to 4-1. Bob Howry pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the eight, and Ryan Dempster closed out the game in the ninth. "Marmol did a real nice job in the seventh," Piniella stated. "And then Bob Howry did a real nice job of getting out of the eighth, and Dempster finished it up." Jacques Jones capped off the Cubs scoring with an RBI triple in the ninth inning. The Cubs would love to take the rubber game of the series on Sunday afternoon. "Lets hope we can win the series," Piniella said. "We've got [Steve] Trachsel going against [Matt] Morris. It will be two veteran pitchers going against each other." --

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