Ramirez has 4 hits, 2-run homer as Cubs crush Pirates 13-6

[April 21, 2008]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Aramis Ramirez tied a career high with four hits, including a two-run homer, and the Chicago Cubs beat Pittsburgh 13-6 Sunday to complete their second three-game sweep of the Pirates this season.

Ryan Theriot added four hits, scored three runs and drove in two as Chicago won for the 11th time in 14 games and pounded the Pirates again. With Saturday's 13-1 drubbing, this was the first time the Cubs scored 13 or more in back-to-back games since they did it against Florida and Atlanta on July 20-21, 2003.

Chicago banged out a season-high 18 hits, the most since it had 20 against Cincinnati last August 16, while sending Pittsburgh to its fifth straight loss. The win was Chicago's ninth straight against the Pirates, matching the Cubs' longest win streak against them since Sept. 5, 1938 to May 13, 1939.

Pittsburgh scored three runs off Ryan Dempster (3-0) in the fifth to cut it to 5-3, but Chicago responded with five in the bottom half against reliever Franquelis Osoria. The Pirates committed two errors in the inning, and Ramirez capped the outburst with his fourth homer.

The four-hit game was Ramirez's 18th and his first since Sept. 27 at Florida.

At 12-6, the Cubs matched their best 18-game start since 2004. One of the reasons is Theriot, who's batting .338.

He singled in a run in the first to extend his hitting streak to seven and was 4-for-5. He doubled and scored in the third, and added an RBI double and scored again in the fourth to help Chicago build a 5-0 lead.

That was enough for Dempster, who was lifted for a pinch hitter in the fifth. He allowed five hits, walked two, struck out three and hit a batter in his shortest outing of the year.

It was a rough outing from the start for Pittsburgh's Zach Duke (0-1), who was 4-2 with a 2.01 ERA in nine previous starts against Chicago. This time, he allowed five runs and eight hits in four innings and his ERA climbed from 2.89 to 4.37. He walked two and hit two batters. Only 36 of his 69 pitches were strikes.

The Cubs scratched Kosuke Fukudome from their lineup because of a small cyst above his right eye -- a condition that manager Lou Piniella said is not serious while calling it "only a one-day thing."

Ryan Doumit had two solo homers for Pittsburgh.

Notes: Pittsburgh's Nate McLouth extended his hitting streak to 18 with a single in the first -- the longest by a Pirate since Jason Kendall hit in 20 straight in 2004.

[Associated Press; By ANDREW SELIGMAN]

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