Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect ninth for his 28th save in 32 chances and second in as many days.
Alexei Ramirez hit a two-run homer for Chicago, which has lost three straight games. Ramirez, A.J. Pierzynski, and Gordon Beckham each had two hits.
White Sox righthander Jake Peavy (4-5) settled down after a rough start and pitched seven effective innings. He gave up three runs and eight hits, but still dropped his fourth consecutive decision.
Cubs 5, Pirates 3 - Starlin Castro had three hits and Carlos Zambrano survived six choppy innings as visiting Chicago beat slumping Pittsburgh to spoil slugger Derrek Lee’s two-homer debut with his new team.
Lee, acquired in a trade with the Orioles Saturday night, knocked in all three Pittsburgh runs but it wasn’t enough as the Pirates lost for the sixth time in eight games. Ryan Ludwick, picked up from the Padres just before the trade deadline, went 0 for 3 with a walk in his Pirates debut.
Zambrano (8-6) picked up his 13th career win over Pittsburgh, tied with Aaron Harang for second-most among active pitchers (Roy Oswalt has 15). Zambrano struck out five and walked three while giving up seven hits.
Paul Maholm (6-11) surrendered four runs on six hits in six innings, striking out three and walking three. He ran out of steam after getting hit by a line drive off the bat of teammate Garrett Jones in the sixth.
Nationals 5, Braves 3 - Rick Ankiel hit two home runs, and Livan Hernandez allowed one run over six innings and drove in a run to lead host Washington.
Ankiel led off the bottom of the first with a homer to center field.
His homer in the fifth inning landed deep in the second deck in left. It was the fifth multihomer game of his career, and the solo shots gave Ankiel five home runs this season.
Atlanta second baseman Dan Uggla homered twice, in the second and ninth innings, giving him 22 this season. Uggla went 3 for 4, extending his career-long hitting streak to 23 games.
Hernandez (6-10) allowed six hits, struck out three, and did not walk a batter as the Nationals won their third straight.
