CHICAGO -- Only the complete game and shutout eluded Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher A.J. Burnett in a stadium where he loves to pitch. Burnett pitched into the ninth inning and Pedro Alvarez and Russell Martin homered to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday. "You program yourself," Burnett said after coming within two outs of his teams first complete game this season. "You want to finish what you started." Burnett (4-6) gave up four hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 8 1-3 innings to improve to 5-0 in his career at Wrigley Field. He had a shutout until Alfonso Sorianos two-run home run to left with one out in the ninth ended a string of 18 straight scoreless innings by Pirates pitchers. "It was the only ball that hung," Burnett said of the shot by Soriano. "He did with it what youre supposed to do with it. I go back a long way with Sori. ... Ive gotten him a few times, hes gotten me. "But you know, you can bury that pitch right there and Ive buried it." Burnett held the Cubs hitless until Nate Schierholtzs double down the line in right leading off the fifth. He threw 112 pitches and left after Sorianos home run. Burnett did not want to come out after allowing a single to Anthony Rizzo before Sorianos home run, and despite a mound conference, manager Clint Hurdle said he had no intention of removing his starter until 115 pitches or some runs scored. "Youve got to give men an opportunity to do certain things no matter where you are or who it is, and hes earned that opportunity," Hurdle said. "Theres been many games hes given us everything hes had." Burnett threw a one-hitter in his last start at Wrigley Field last July 31. He lost the no-hitter in the eighth inning with two outs in that outing. "Its a good place," Burnett said. "Its a good environment. A day game, too. "You come to Chicago and Wrigley Field, even as a Marlin I enjoyed coming here a long time ago. So its fun to get out and play against these guys on their field in their stadium." Sorianos homer was the 379th of his career, tying him with Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez for 64th on the all-time list. But it was the Pirates doing almost all the hitting, as they gave Burnett some rare run support: They had scored three runs or less in six of his previous seven starts. "The last couple times we havent given him many runs," Alvarez said. "I dont care how good you are, its always nice to pitch with some runs behind you." The Pirates tagged Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija (3-7) for eight hits, including Alvarezs two-run home run in the fourth, his team-high 13th of the year. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one in six innings. "The splitter was up all day today," Samardzija said. "(They) got a couple of hits off of it. Alvarezs home run was off of it. "They took advantage of (the splitter) up in the zone and they made me pay." Martins homer, a two-run shot in the eighth off reliever Hector Rondon, was the 100th of his career. The Pirates jumped on Samardzija for a run in the second on Garrett Jones double and Alvarezs one-out RBI single. Pittsburgh added a run in the third when Starling Marte ended a streak of 14 hitless at-bats with a single, stole second and came in on Travis Sniders single. Alvarez homered to right field after Martin led off with a walk in the fourth to increase the Pirates lead to 4-0. In the eighth, Martin sent a 3-2 pitch by Rondon into the seats in left for a two-out home run after Andrew McCutchen had drawn a walk. Pittsburgh beat Chicago for the fifth straight time and handed the Cubs their fifth loss in the last six games overall. "Its hard to see those guys play the way they play and we cannot play like that," Soriano said. "Especially, we got shut out yesterday. I dont want it to happen today again. At least he didnt throw a shutout." NOTES: Pittsburgh RHP Jeff Karstens, on the disabled list since March 26 with a shoulder inflammation, had surgery Friday on his right rotator cuff and labrum in Los Angeles. Hell be able to begin a rehab process in 10 to 12 weeks. ... The Pirates placed RHP Jared Hughes on the 15-day disabled list with a throwing shoulder inflammation and recalled OF Alex Presley from Triple-A Indianapolis. Presley had been sent down Monday when Hughes was called up. Hughes has returned to Pittsburgh for more evaluation. ... Cubs pitcher Kyuji Fuikawa, who went on the 60-day DL May 27 with a muscular strain in his right forearm, is expected to have surgery Tuesday after an exam on Monday. ... Cubs SS Starlin Castro, dropped from second to seventh in the order on June 4, continued to struggle. He went 0 for 3 and is mired in a 3-for-34 slump. ... Sundays pitchers: Pittsburgh left-hander Jeff Locke (5-1, 2.45) vs. Chicago right-hander Edwin Jackson (1-8, 6.29). SWell Bottle Nz Stockists . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Swell Drink Bottles NZ . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. http://www.swellwaterbottlenz.com/ . John Tavares, Thomas Vanek and Kyle Okposo were also being counted on to slow down sizzling Rangers forward Rick Nash. That plan didnt go so well early. Swell Traveller NZ . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. Swell Traveler Bottle NZ . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. LONDON -- Novak Djokovic is a fan of the round-robin format in tennis, and he would even like to see it used at the Olympics and the Davis Cup.Djokovic, who is chasing the year-end No. 1 ranking this week at the season-ending tournament, praised the system at the ATP finals, where players can lose a match in the first round and still advance to the semifinals.I think this format is exciting, Djokovic said Thursday after winning his third straight match at the ATP finals. I mean, look, its the only tournament in the year that we have this kind of format. I like playing in the round-robin system.Djokovic, who lost to eventual silver medalist Juan Martin del Potro in the first round at the Rio de Janeiro Games, then said he thinks the format could be used at the Olympics.I guess you play more matches, said Djokovic, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games. The people like to see the top players being at least for a couple matches, two, three matches, in the tournament. It gives more value to the event.Djokovic also criticized the Davis Cup, a team tournament spread out through the year. He proposed condensing it to make it easier on tthe top players.ddddddddddddOnce a year ... two weeks, have a round-robin format, Djokovic said. Have teams play in different locations, then come together in one location and play a knock-out stage, quarterfinals, semifinals, final four, whatever.Its a no-brainer. Im not the only one to have this kind of opinion about it. Many of the players have been talking about this format and the schedule, top players especially.Djokovic also said the three-day, best-of-five set system could be cut to two days and best-of-three matches. But he said the International Tennis Federation hasnt been receptive to change.The only thing that they wanted to change is the neutral final, I think for next year or the year after that ... nobody agrees with that, Djokovic said. Again, youre taking away from the players the one thing that players love about Davis Cup, which is the home tie, the home crowd.I dont know how the future of Davis Cup will look like, Djokovic added. But there is definitely something radically that has to change. ' ' '
