Reed Johnson came through in the clutch on Sunday afternoon, as his 8th inning pinch-hit 2-run homer lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 8-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates from Wrigley Field.

The Pirates got a 1st inning rally going after Nate McLouth drew a 2-out walk from Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano.

Andy LaRoche then singled to Alfonso Soriano in left field, which allowed McLouth to score from 1st base after Soriano failed to cut off LaRoche’s base hit to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs then put together a scoring chance in the bottom of the 1st inning after Ryan Theriot hit a 1-out single off Pirates starter Ian Snell.

Derrek Lee then drew a walk to put runners at 1st & 2nd with 1 out.

2 batters later, Kosuke Fukudome lined out to Jack Wilson at shortstop to end the scoring threat.

Pittsburgh then added another run in the top of the 2nd inning on Brandon Moss’ lead-off solo homer (3rd of season) off Zambrano to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

3 batters later, Ian Snell laid down a sac bunt to advance Steve Pearce (who singled off Zambrano with no outs) to 2nd base with 2 outs for Luis Rivas.

Rivas then was robbed of a hit by Aramis Ramirez at 3rd base, who dove to his left, got up & fired to Derrek Lee at 1st base to end the inning.

Chicago then had a chance to score in the bottom of the 2nd inning after Mark DeRosa hit a lead-off single against Snell.

DeRosa then advanced to 2nd base on a wild pitch from Snell during Jim Edmonds’ at-bat,  who drew a walk to put runners at 1st & 2nd with no outs.

Geovany Soto then hit an RBI single to score DeRosa from 2nd & made it a 2-1 game.

Carlos Zambrano then hit into a doubleplay, but scored Edmonds from 3rd base to tie the game 2-2.

The Cubs then took the lead in the bottom of the 4th inning after Jim Edmonds hit a double just out of the reach of a leaping Brandon Moss in left field.

Geovany Soto then hit an RBI double to score Edmonds from 2nd base & gave Chicago a 3-2 lead.

Carlos Zambrano then got into the act, as he hit an RBI double to score Soto from 2nd base & gave the Cubs a 4-2 lead.

2 batters later, Ryan Theriot drew a 2-out walk to put runners on 1st & 2nd for Derrek Lee, who struck out looking to end the inning.

Aramis Ramirez then extended the Cubs’ lead in the bottom of the 5th inning with a lead-off solo homer (19th of season) to make it a 5-2 game.

Pittsburgh then tried to put together a 7th inning rally after Steve Pearce hit a 2-out single off Chicago reliever Jeff Samardzija.

Jack Wilson then drew a walk to put runners at 1st & 2nd with 2 outs for Jason Michaels,  who grounded out to Aramis Ramirez at 3rd base to end the scoring threat.

Alfonso Soriano then had more mishaps in left field, as he kicked a ball hit by Doug Mientkiewicz in the top of the 8th inning which enabled Mientkiewicz to reach 2nd base safely.

Ryan Doumit then hit an RBI single to score Mientkiewicz from 3rd base (Mientkiewicz reached 3rd base & made it a 5-3 Cub lead.

Andy LaRoche then greeted Cubs reliever Chad Gaudin with a game-tying 2-run homer (3rd of season), which gave Carlos Zambrano a no-decision.

Geovany Soto kept things alive in the bottom of the 8th inning with a 2-out walk off Pirates reliever Chris Hansen.

Pirates reliever A.J. Burnett then entered the game & gave up a pinch-hit 2-run homer to Reed Johnson (6th of season) to give the Cubs a 7-5 lead.

Alfonso Soriano immediately followed with a solo homer (19th of season, tied for team lead) to give Chicago a 8-5 lead.

Carlos Marmol then pitched a perfect 9th inning to end the game.

Chad Gaudin (3-1) picks up the win & a blown save for the Cubs after pitching 1/3 of an inning & allowing 1 run on 1 hit while walking a batter & striking out a batter.

Craig Hansen (0-1) takes the loss for the Pirates after allowing 1 run on 1 hit in 1 2/3 innings of work, including Geovany Soto’s 8th-inning walk which led to Reed Johnson’s game-winning 2-run homer.

Carlos Marmol pitched a perfect 9th & struck out one to earn his 6th save of the season.

The Cubs will now welcome the Houston Astros to town for a 3-game series beginning Monday evening at 6:05 PM cst (70’s night!), as righty Ryan Dempster (12-4, 2.90) will be opposed by Astros righty Brian Moehler (6-4, 4.23).

Dempster is coming off an excellent month of July in which he went 3-1 in 6 starts with a 1.99 ERA & is 10-1 in 13 home starts with a 2.72 ERA.

Moehler is 2-2 in 6 road starts with a 4.63 ERA & is 1-1 in 5 career starts against Chicago with a 3.60 ERA.

Signing off for now,