Rich Harden got his first road win in almost 2 months, as he pitched 7 strong innings to help the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 on Monday evening from PNC Park.

The Cubs struck for an early run in the 2nd after Jake Fox & Geovany Soto hit back-to-back singles off Zach Duke.

Milton Bradley then flied out to Nyjer Morgan in left field before Ryan Freel struck out, which left it up to Andres Blanco.

Blanco delivered with a clutch 2-out RBI single to score Fox from 2nd base & give Chicago a 1-0 lead.

Soto was able to take 3rd base on the play, while Blanco advanced to 2nd.

Rich Harden then grounded out to Adam LaRoche at 3rd base to end the inning.

Chicago then got another run in the 3rd thanks to Ryan Theriot’s 1-out solo homer (7th of season) off Duke, which gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead.

The Cubs then struck again in the 4th, which started with a lead-off walk from Geovany Soto against Duke.

Milton Bradley then hit an RBI double, which scored Soto all the way from 1st to give Chicago a 3-0 lead.

Ryan Freel then popped up to Andrew McCutchen in shallow centerfield, but Andres Blanco was able to advance Bradley to 3rd with a groundout to Andy LaRoche.

With 2 outs & Bradley on 3rd base, Rich Harden struck out to end the inning.

Pittsburgh ended the shutout in the 5th after Andy LaRoche hit a lead-off double against Chicago starter Rich Harden.

Jason Jaramillo then grounded out to Harden, who kicked the ball with his foot & scooped it up to step on 1st on time for the out.

It also advanced LaRoche to 3rd base with just 1 out for Jack Wilson.

Wilson then hit an RBI groundout, which scored LaRoche from 3rd & made it a 3-1 game.

The Pirates kept the rally going after Zach Duke & Andrew McCutchen hit back-to-back 2-out singles into right field off Harden.

That brought up Nyjer Morgan with runners on 1st & 2nd, who singled to left which loaded the bases with 2 outs for Freddy Sanchez.

Sanchez then hit a comebacker to Harden, who tossed across to Derrek Lee at 1st base in time to end the inning.

The Cubs got another rally going in the top of the 6th after Jake Fox hit a lead-off single against Duke.

2 batters later, Milton Bradley singled to right field which put runners on 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for Ryan Freel.

Freel then flied out to Brandon Moss in right field, but it allowed Fox to tag to 3rd base on the play.

That presented a 2-out RBI chance for Andres Blanco, who grounded out to Jack Wilson at shortstop to end the scoring threat.

Pittsburgh got a chance to inch closer in the bottom of the 6th after Brandon Moss & Andy LaRoche hit back-to-back 1-out singles off Harden.

Jorge Jaramillo & Jack Wilson both struck out to end the scoring chance.

The Pirates got yet another scoring rally going in the 7th after pinch-hitter Ramon Vazquez hit a lead-off single off Harden.

2 batters later, Nyjer Morgan singled just past a diving Ryan Freel in centerfield to put runners on 1st & 2nd with just 1 out for Freddy Sanchez.

Sanchez then hit into a doubleplay which ended the inning.

The back end of Chicago’s bullpen got the job done tonight, as Carlos Marmol & Kevin Gregg both recorded 1-2-3 innings to end the game & snap the team’s 2-game skid.

Rich Harden (5-4) provided perhaps his best start of the season after allowing just 1 run on 9 hits in 7 innings pitched, while walking one & striking out nine.

Zach Duke (8-6) takes the loss for Pittsburgh after allowing 3 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings of work.

Kevin Gregg pitched a perfect 9th inning for his 13th save of the season.

Game 2 of this series will be played on Tuesday evening at 6:05 PM cst from PNC Park, as Cubs southpaw Ted Lilly (7-5, 3.41) will face off against Pirates righthander Ross Ohlendorf (6-6, 4.75).

Lilly has been very solid this month with a 1-1 record in 5 June starts & a 3.24 ERA despite getting shelled for 6 runs on 10 hits in his last outing against Detroit (loss) on June 25th.

Ohlendorf has a 4-2 record in 8 home starts this season with a 3.88 ERA & will make his 1st career start against the Cubs on Tuesday.

Before Monday’s game, the Cubs activated outfielder Sam Fuld from Triple A-Iowa & placed infielder Aaron Miles on the 15-day DL with a hyperextended left elbow.

Ironically enough, Fuld’s biggest major-league play to date was against the Pirates on September 22nd, 2007 as he made a great catch to take away an extra-base hit from Nyjer Morgan while slamming into the Wrigley Field ivy in right-center field.

Fuld then gathered himself & fired a strike to Derrek Lee at 1st base to double up Nate McLouth to end the inning.

Signing off for now,

Matt T for Cubshub.com