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PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates had just lost consecutive home games for the first time in over two months. Dwight Freeney Womens Jersey . Yet there was a sense of optimism in the Pirates clubhouse following a 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night, even though they fell 2 1-2 games behind Cincinnati in the NL Central. The Pirates were buoyed by the postgame announcement that they had acquired veteran left-hander Wandy Rodriguez from the Houston Astros in a trade for three minor leaguers. It was the first time the Pirates had acquired a pitcher for a potential pennant push since trading with the Cubs for Danny Jackson in 1992. The Pirates won the NL East that season but havent been back to the post-season or even had a winning record since. The Pirates will get up to $17.7 million in the deal to offset what could amount to over $30 million in salary for Rodriguez. They are sending Triple-A All-Star Rudy Owens and Colton Cain, both left-handers, and outfielder Robbie Grossman to Houston. "We talked since Day One of the trading season about wanting to improve our club either via pitching or via hitting," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. "The pitching market turned out to be more flexible than the hitting market and we decided this was the right move for us." The only player on the Astros roster remaining from their 2005 trip to the World Series, Rodriguez has been a steady presence on a rebuilding ballclub that has the worst record in the majors this year and lost 106 games last season. Signed by the Astros in 1999, he is 80-84 with a 4.04 ERA in eight seasons. Rodriguez is 7-9 with a 3.79 ERA this year. Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle believes Rodriguez will be helped by a change of scenery. "Im sure a change of clubhouses for him, a change of the dynamic of being in a situation (a pennant race) he hasnt been in for three or four years should be helpful," Hurdle said. "Ive prepared for him for many years as a manager and as a coach. He has also been a tough pitcher to hit, a tough pitcher to beat. Im very happy that were adding him to our rotation." James McDonald (10-4), who has been a mainstay of the Pirates rotation this season, had his career-best five-game winning streak snapped McDonald was touched for five runs and five hits in six innings while walking three and striking out six. Starlin Castro and Alfonso Soriano both homered. David DeJesus hit a tiebreaking two-run double for Chicago, which had totalled just three runs in its previous four games. DeJesus doubled to left in the fifth inning to put the Cubs ahead 3-1, the hit coming after Maholm drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Geovany Soto and Luis Valbuena, who had both also walked, scored on the double. "I was actually pretty pleased with this outing," McDonald said. "The ball came out of my hand really well. I felt like I had good command of my pitches, especially my curveball. They hit some good pitches and thats going to happen sometimes." Cubs left-hander Paul Maholm pitched eight strong innings Tuesday night to win his fifth straight start. He gave up one run and four hits in handing the Pittsburgh its first consecutive home losses since May 22-23. He struck out seven and walked one. Maholm has allowed just four earned runs in 38 1-3 innings during his winning streak for a 0.94 ERA in that span. The left-hander spent his first seven seasons with the Pirates before signing with the Cubs as a free agent last winter. "Ive made more than a few starts here and I enjoy pitching here," Maholm said of PNC Park. "Obviously, its a pitcher-friendly park and if you make your pitches, its going to work out well for a ground ball guy. I thought I did well and executed my pitches and it always help to get good defence and some runs to work with." Castro hit his ninth homer with one out in the first inning to open the scoring. Pittsburghs Garrett Jones answered with a solo shot in the fourth, his 14th of the season and first off a lefty since last Aug. 16 when he hit a game-ending homer off St. Louis Arthur Rhodes. Sorianos two-run homer in the fifth, his 19th, pushed the Cubs lead to 5-1. Chicago closer Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation, working around a leadoff double by Neil Walker and a walk to Andrew McCutchen. The Pirates had provided McDonald with 44 runs of support in six starts during his winning streak. NOTES: Dempster (5-4, 2.11 ERA) is scheduled to start Wednesday against Pittsburgh RHP Kevin Correia in the finale of the three-game series. Dempster leads the major leagues in ERA. ... Matt Garza (strained right triceps) will not make his scheduled start Friday against the Cardinals and will be reevaluated that day. He was removed from his previous start last Saturday at St. Louis after pitching three scoreless innings. The Cubs are optimistic Garza will not need to be placed on the DL. ... Correia will be looking to extend his five-game winning streak, the best of his career. Correia is 6-1 in his last 10 starts since losing five straight starts from April 29-May 20. Robert Mathis Womens Jersey . -- Kenny Miller scored his first MLS goal, but it wasnt enough as the Vancouver Whitecaps lost 2-1 to the Portland Timbers on Saturday at JELD-WEN Field. Reggie Wayne Jersey . -- Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey is hearing rumours that holdout Maurice Jones-Drew will report soon, but says none of the talk is coming from anyone who matters. http://www.coltsfanstore.com/t-y-hilton-jersey . DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points and the injury-riddled Raptors beat the Atlanta Hawks 102-86 on Sunday night for their second straight win over a playoff-bound team. Reggie Wayne Youth Jersey . Rally over. Inning over. One step closer to The Freaks funk being over, too. Lincecum struck out seven in seven innings and the San Francisco Giants took advantage of a two-run error by shortstop Ruben Tejada to beat the New York Mets 4-1 on Tuesday night and snap a season-long five-game losing streak. After going 4-14 with Lincecum on the mound before the All-Star break, the Giants are 3-1 when the two-time NL Cy Young Award has started since. Pat Angerer Womens Jersey . -- At 37 and entering his 16th NFL season, Ronde Barber is embracing the challenge of learning a new position with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. MINNEAPOLIS -- Aside from one swing from Jonny Gomes, the Oakland Athletics had no chance against Francisco Liriano on Friday night. That one swing was all it took for Oakland to escape with a win, though. Gomes grand slam helped the As overcome a career-high 15 strikeouts from Liriano and beat the Minnesota Twins 6-3. Lirianos 15 strikeouts were the second most in Twins history and most since Johan Santana fanned 17 Texas batters at the Metrodome on Aug. 19, 2007. "You got to swing," said Gomes, who hit the slam on the first pitch of his second at-bat after whiffing on three straight in his first plate appearance. "You just hope its a strike, not like the first three pitches I swung at. You have to be aggressive, often." It was the 23rd time since 1961 that a pitcher had 15 or more strikeouts and lost the game. Josh Willingham hit two home runs for Minnesota which has lost five of six. A.J. Griffin (1-0) battled through six innings to earn his first career win and lead the As to their seventh victory in eight games. "It might not have been my best outing," said Griffin, whose father is from Grand Rapids, Minn., and had nine family members in the stands to witness his first win. "I was just trying to compete after the break. Its good to get that first one." Liriano (3-8) looked unhittable most of Friday. The inconsistent lefty used a diving slider and nasty changeup to fan eight of the first 10 hitters he faced and record nine of his first 10 outs via strikeout. Twins centre-fielder Denard Span dropped a fly ball with one out in the fourth and Liriano walked the next batter to load the bases. Gomes hit Lirianos next pitch into the second deck in left field, his first grand slam this season and third in his career. "Youve got to make the plays," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "You should have been sitting in the dugout and it ends up Gomes coming up in a big situation and got a first pitch that kind of drifted in towards him, inner-half of the plate and he put it in the seats. Thats whats disappointing. He should have been in the dugout." Willingham hit both of his homers -- his 20th and 21st -- off Griffin. The sluggers second blast was a two-run shot that cut his former teams lead to 4-3 in the fourth. Griffin got a little payback on Willingham in the fifth, striking him ouut on an offspeed pitch with two runners on to end the inning. Vick Ballard Jersey. "I went after him, went to 3-2 and continued to trust in the curve ball," Griffin said. "That was a huge punchout for sure. It kept the momentum in our favour." Ryan Cook struck out two in the ninth for his ninth save in 12 chances. The win put the As (44-43) over .500 for the first time since May 21. Oakland entered Friday 2 1-2 games behind Baltimore in the wild-card standings. After starting the season 0-5 with a 9.45 ERA and getting demoted to the bullpen, Liriano is 3-3 and has 76 strikeouts in 52 1-3 innings since rejoining the rotation on May 30. "When you feel fine, you go out there and you dont think about anything," Liriano said. "And, like I said, they were swinging early and I was making some good pitches when I needed to and just being more consistent throughout this. They cant hit everything." The White Sox Chris Sale and Detroits Max Scherzer also recorded 15 strikeouts in a game this season. The As added a couple of extra runs off Alex Burnett once Liriano was removed after eight innings. Gomes, who entered the game 4-for-43 against Minnesota, drove in his fifth run with a single. Brandon Inge followed two batters later with another RBI single to make it 6-3. NOTES: Cespedes was the As DH on Friday. Manager Bob Melvin said Cespedes could return to left field on Saturday if his sore left thumb feels better. ... Twins RHP Carl Pavano (shoulder) threw on Friday and is getting closer to throwing off a mound. He said the extended stint on the DL has been frustrating, especially as the Twins have struggled to find capable starting pitching. "Im letting myself down," he said. "Im letting everyone down around me." ... The Twins failed to sign ninth-round draft choice L.J. Mazzilli. The 2B and son of former major-league player and manager Lee Mazzilli will return to the University of Connecticut for his senior season. ... Liriano struck out 12 in a game twice during his rookie season in 2006. ... The start of the game was delayed 10 minutes because of rain. ... Cole De Vries makes his sixth career start for the Twins on Saturday. The right-hander is 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA. ... Tommy Milone (8-6) gets the start for Oakland on Saturday. The rookie is 2-1 with a 0.96 ERA over his last four starts. ' ' '