McLeary joined the team on Monday.

Aug. 31, 2006

By Dave Parsons, MVNU Sports Information

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Former Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio) standout pitcher Marty McLeary notched his first career regular-season major league victory on Wednesday afternoon as the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied to defeat the Chicago Cubs 10-9 in 11 innings at PNC Park.

McLeary, who was called up by the Pirates on Monday from the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, worked out of a jam in the 10th inning to keep the score knotted at 7-7 as Chicago's Aramis Ramirez lined into a double play to end the inning.  Then, in the 11th inning, the Cubs strung together three straight singles and a sacrifice fly to plate two runs and take a 9-7 lead.

However, in the bottom of the 11th inning, Jose Castillo pulled the Pirates within 9-8 with a one-out RBI-single.  Pinch hitter Humberto Cota reached on an infield single batting for McLeary, and one out later Jose Bautista drew a walk to load the bases with two outs.

That brought up Freddy Sanchez, a former teammate of McLeary's in the Boston Red Sox minor league system and a fellow NAIA college baseball alum from Oklahoma City University.  After fouling off the first two pitches and then taking a ball, Sanchez, the National League's leading hitter with a .347 batting average, lined a two-run single to right to give Pittsburgh a 10-9 walk-off win * the Pirates' second straight 11th-inning victory in less than 24 hours.

On Tuesday, McLeary made his first major league appearance since the 2004 season.  He worked a perfect sixth inning and then allowed one hit, one walk, and one run in the seventh inning while striking out two batters as the Pirates defeated the Cubs 7-6 in 11 innings.  In two appearances, he has now allowed six hits, two walks, and three runs over four innings with four strikeouts.

After an off-day on Thursday, Pittsburgh heads to St. Louis for a three-game weekend series with the Cardinals before playing four games in Chicago.  On September 8-10, the Pirates will play a three-game series in Cincinnati before returning home for a six-game homestand from September 11-17.