Rival watch: Pittsburgh wins 2-1, stays 2.5 games up on Cincinnati

Published Sep. 14, 2013 10:00 p.m. ET

foxsports

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Gerrit Cole pitched seven strong innings and got home run help from Marlon Byrd and Jose Tabata, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates past the Chicago Cubs 2-1 Saturday night.
The Pirates have won five of six. They began the day one game behind St. Louis for the NL Central lead.
Cole (8-7) gave up one run and five hits. The rookie struck out seven and walked three.

Byrd hit a solo home run off James Russell (1-6) in the seventh to put Pittsburgh ahead 2-1.
It was Byrd's 23rd home run of the season and second in 17 games since being acquired Aug. 27 from the New York Mets in a trade. He is hitting .323 for the Pirates.