Pirates spoil Garza's return for the Cubs

MATT GARZA waited 10 months to take the mound again, but he will have to wait a little longer to get a victory.

Travis Snider hit a pinch-hit grand slam during a five-run sixth and the Pittsburgh Pirates spoiled a strong return to the mound for Garza with a 5-4 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs last night.

Garza allowed one hit over five shutout innings in his first outing in 10 months, but the Pirates pounced on a Chicago bullpen that is 10th in the National League in ERA by sending 11 men to the plate in the sixth.

Snider's first career home run with the bases loaded was the first Pirates pinch-hit grand slam in 5 years.

Garza had been sidelined since July 21 because of a stress reaction in his right elbow and, later, a strained upper back.

Limited by a pitch count, Garza threw 82 pitches.

"I felt great out there," he said. "I had some butterflies and the first couple of innings flew by. I had to kind of stop myself at one point and just slow down but it was fun. It was a long, long time and it's nice to not only come back but pitch well. You don't want to spend that much time working to get back and then pitch poorly."

Wandy Rodriguez (5-2) allowed three runs on six hits over six innings for the Pirates, who have won nine of 11.

The Cubs scored once in the ninth, but Anthony Rizzo struck out swinging with two on to end the game and earn Jason Grilli his majors-leading 18th save.

The lone inning in which Rodriguez allowed a runner to progress past first base was the second, when Darwin Barney had an RBI single and Garza hit a two-run double.

Cubs pitchers have 13 RBI in May - the most for the franchise in any month since September 1971. They also have a major league leading six doubles.

Snider's homer, his second, was the first pinch-hit grand slam by a Pirates player since Jason Michaels on June 2, 2008.

At New York, Mike Leake pitched three-hit ball for seven sharp innings and the Cincinnati Reds parlayed third baseman David Wright's early error into a 4-0 victory over the Mets. The Reds scored three times in the first inning after Wright let a bases-loaded, two-out grounder skip through his legs.

Leake (4-2) struck out four, walked two and became the latest pitcher to shut down the Mets at Citi Field. New York has lost 10 of 12 at home, rarely scoring many runs.

* At Denver, Wilin Rosario's 10th-inning single, his second hit of the night, lifted the Colorado Rockies over the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-4.

* At Milwaukee, Carlos Gomez hit a go-ahead two-run double, Jonathan Lucroy had three hits and an RBI and five Milwaukee relievers combined for five scoreless innings as the Brewers beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-2.

At Chicago, Jose Quintana (3-1) held the Boston Red Sox hitless until one out in the seventh and the White Sox went on to win, 3-1. David Ortiz broke up the no-hitter with a broken-bat single.

Quintana (3-1) allowed three hits, struck out five and walked two, and Jeff Kippinger homered for the White Sox.

* At Baltimore, Nate McLouth homered leading off the 10th inning, Chris Dickerson hit a pair of solo shots and the Orioles beat the New York Yankees, 3-2, to snap a six-game losing streak.

Jim Johnson (2-4), who blew three save opportunities during the six-game skid, got three straight outs in the 10th.

* At Cleveland, Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer and Max Scherzer retired 22 straight batters after the first inning, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 5-1 win over Indians, who had their winning streak halted at five games.

Scherzer (6-0) gave up two singles and a run in the first before shutting down baseball's hottest team for eight innings.

* At Houston, Mike Moustakas singled to spark a four-run eighth inning and the Kansas City Royals downed the Astros, 7-3. George Kottaras drove in two runs for the Royals. Jimmy Parades hit a three-run homer for Houston.

* At Toronto, Kelly Johnson and Desmond Jennings homered, Alex Cobb (5-2) won for the first time in three starts and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Blue Jays, 4-3.

* At Arlington, Texas, rookie righthander Dan Straily (2-2) pitched seven scoreless innings and Yoenis Cespedes homered as the Oakland Athletics won their fifth straight game, 1-0 over the Texas Rangers.

At Atlanta, Evan Gattis hit a two-out, pinch-hit homer in the ninth to send the game to extra innings and Freddie Freeman won it in the 10th with a bloop single, sending the Braves to their fifth straight win, 5-4 over the Minnesota Twins.

Craig Kimbrel (1-1) worked a scoreless 10th for the win.

A stretch of road in front of the former Jarry Park in Montreal was renamed in honor of former Expos catcher Gary Carter, a Hall of Famer who became the ballclub's most popular player.

* The Giants put Ryan Vogelsong on the 15-day disabled list after he had surgery on a broken right hand, suffered while at the plate of Monday's 8-0 victory against the Washington Nationals.

* The White Sox scratched Chris Sale from tonight's start against Boston because of tendinitis in his left shoulder.