"The road winning streak ended at one.

The night after they snapped their skid at 17 consecutive games away from home -- the second-longest since the start of Divisional Play some 40-plus years ago -- the Pirates saw Alfonso Soriano club home runs on consecutive at-bats tonight to power the Cubs to a 3-1 victory before 36,914 at Wrigley Field.

So much for the Pirates using the Cubs as a pinata, as one Chicago wag put it: They had won eight of 10 this season from Chicago before tonight.

Thus, they tied their most recent road winning streak, the one game they won May 25 after losing that series opener and before they lost 17 in succession, the franchise's second-longest since 1890. The 1985 Pirates dropped 19 in succession away from home."