Pirates Beat Cubs 4-2

Just call Kevin Correia the road warrior.

Correia pitched shutout ball into the eighth inning before the Pittsburgh Pirates held on to beat the Chicago Cubs 4-2 on Friday.

Correia (7-4) limited Chicago to four singles and a pair of walks in 7 1-3 innings. He moved into a tie with Boston's Jon Lester for the major league lead in wins, and has six of the Pirates' 14 victories away from PNC Park this season.

"You throw half your games on the road your whole career, so it really doesn't effect me at all," Correia said. "Every place is a little different."

Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen remained a thorn in the Cubs' side with two singles, a walk, an RBI and two stolen bases. He's reached base in 19 straight games against the Cubs.

Doug Davis (0-3) walked six batters and hit another during 4 2-3 innings in his 300th career appearance. The Cubs committed a pair of errors in the second that led to two unearned runs, and Davis allowed four in all.

"I'm not going to make any excuses for walking six people. That's for sure," Davis said. "I've been around long enough to know that walking that many guys against any team is going to come back to haunt you."

Alfonso Soriano hit his 12th homer of the season, two-run shot off reliever Joe Beimel in the ninth, but Pittsburgh closer Joel Hanrahan came on to strike out three straight batters to remain perfect in 14 save chances this season.

"That's as sharp a slider as (Hanrahan) has had all season, as well as with the velocity of the fastball," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.

The Cubs got two singles and a walk from Carlos Pena, but not much else. Pena has reached base in 20 of his last 21 games.

Chicago loaded the bases in the eighth. After Correia allowed a single to Koyie Hill and walked Kosuke Fukudome, he was replaced by reliever Jose Veras. He got Darwin Barney on a shallow fly to center, but walked Starlin Castro to load the bases.

Veras got cleanup hitter Aramis Ramirez on a pop fly to second to end the inning.

The Pirates improved to 14-12 on the road this season. Last season, they went 17-64 away from home, eight games worse than any other team in baseball.

Davis's wildness didn't help the Cubs, nor did their continuing defensive problems, which led to two unearned runs for the Pirates in the second.

After the first two batters reached, Ronny Cedeno's sacrifice bunt was mishandled by Davis, loading the bases. Ramirez then bobbled Correia's grounder to third, scoring Chris Snyder with the game's first run. The second scored on Steve Pearce's sacrifice fly.

"When a guy puts himself in that situation, the best thing you can do is wait him out," said Snyder, who caught Davis 61 times when both players were with Arizona from 2007-09. "Wait for the pitch. That's what we did."

It was the second straight game the Cubs have committed two errors in an inning, and the sixth time this season. They also dropped into last in the NL in fielding percentage.

"We couldn't make two plays and they scratch for two," Cubs manager Mike Quade said. "All of a sudden it's a different ballgame. A clean game defensively puts us in the thing."

The Pirates added two more runs against Davis in the fourth on three walks, a hit batter and an infield single. McCutchen drew a bases loaded walk to score Cedeno, and Neil Walker's infield hit brought home Jose Tabata.

Davis was finally pulled after walking Correia with two outs in the fifth. He had burned through 111 pitches by that point.

Correia also beat the Cubs at Wrigley on April 1, the opening game for both teams. The Pirates have won three of their four games in Chicago this season, and have beaten the Cubs in 15 of their last 21 meetings.

"I've been thoroughly impressed with (Correia's) preparation and the way he goes about his business," Hurdle said. "He makes pitches and gets us deep in ballgames."