Pirates 3, Cubs 2

The Pirates defeated the Cubs 3-2 Saturday night on Matt Hague's walk-off hit by pitch, surely the perfect way for Chicago to continue its losing streak.

The Bucs scored two in the third against Paul Maholm on an RBI single by Pedro Alvarez and a sacrifice fly by Neil Walker. The Cubs cut that lead in half in the fourth on a solo shot by Alfonso Soriano, then added another run in the fifth on David DeJesus' double and Starlin Castro's RBI triple.

That did it for the starters. Maholm walked five batters (one intentionally) but allowed two runs in five innings (and it's certainly nice to see Pirates batters take all those walks). Kevin Correia struck out two and walked two and lasted 6.1 frames. Tony Watson, Brad Lincoln and Joel Hanrahan held down the fort for the Bucs after that.

The Pirates kicked off the bottom of the ninth with a Jose Tabata single and a Josh Harrison walk. Neil Walker came up three batters later and walked the bases full. At that point, Rafael Dolis, who has struggled all year, hit Matt Hague to bring home the winning run. Hague memorably said the pitch hit him "right on my side fat."

The Bucs' series against the Cubs ends with Sunday's matchup at 1:35.