Brian Kersey, Associated Press Jason Bay homered in his first two at-bats last night in Wrigley Field -- both two-run homers. The two blasts helped him surpass 30 for the second consecutive season. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: Pirates Notebook: Nady making big hits a habit

CHICAGO -- No, there was no champagne uncorked when the Pirates edged Chicago, 6-5, last night at Wrigley Field.

Sure, they leapfrogged past the Cubs and left the Central Division cellar for the first time all season.

And yes, when they report to Wrigley this afternoon, they can look up at those famous flags above the scoreboard -- the ones that reflect the National League standings -- and finally see theirs off the bottom rung.

But there was no trace of excessive commotion after Jason Bay's two home runs and a fluky ninth-inning rally improved the Pirates' record to 56-83, a half-game better than the Cubs' 55-83.

Even Salomon Torres, who seemed to irk some of the Cubs with a demonstrative celebration to his save the previous night, played it cool when he closed this one.

"I guess they don't like to see Sully happy," he said. "That's OK. I can be quiet, too."

Without a doubt, that was appropriate, given the immensely immaterial nature of the achievement, something all concerned acknowledged.

"I'm interested only in seeing our team continuing to play good baseball," manager Jim Tracy responded to a question about last place. "Wherever that places us, it places us. I think that feeling elation over finishing fifth instead of sixth, when first or a wild card is your ultimate goal ..."

He tailed off for a moment, then went on.

"You know that the club has improved, and you want that to continue."

Asked if he had been urging his players to fight for fifth place, Tracy replied, "It's not close to that."

The players' view?

Some relish it ...

	THE RACE How Freddy Sanchez stands in his bid to become the first Pirates player to win the National League batting title since Bill Madlock in 1983. LAST GAME Yesterday: 2 for 5 vs. Cubs. LEADERS Freddy Sanchez .346 Miguel Cabrera, Marlins .335 Matt Holliday, Rockies .331 NEXT GAME Today: 8:05 p.m. vs. Cubs. Pitcher: Richard Hill. Sanchez is 0 for 1 lifetime vs. Hill.

"I think it's huge for the team as a whole to get out of the cellar," reliever Matt Capps said. "No one wants to finish last, and it will give us something to build off."

And others ...

"I guess it's a small victory, if anything," Bay said. "We're not where we want to be. You want to finish strong, so it's a little something to go on. But it's definitely not something you want to throw a party about."

The setting was far from but festive, judging by the attendance of 31,494, smallest of the summer at Wrigley. But the ending was anything but dull.

The ninth opened with pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit's infield single against Chicago closer Ryan Dempster. Rajai Davis ran for him and was sacrificed to second, but he was thrown out on an ill-advised decision to try to take third on Jose Bautista's grounder to the left side.

No matter.

Freddy Sanchez drew a walk, and he and Bautista took an extra base on a wild pitch. Bay walked to fill the bases. With Xavier Nady up, Dempster's 1-0 pitch skipped to the backstop to put the Pirates ahead, 6-5.

Torres came on for the bottom half and recorded his third save in Mike Gonzalez's absence. He struck out Derrek Lee and Jacque Jones before Matt Murton and Henry Blanco singled. But pinch-hitter Freddie Bynum swung over a split-fingered fastball to end it.

"His stuff right now is as good as I've seen it," Tracy said of Torres. "That splitter ... the bottom's falling completely out of it."

"I went right at him with my best," Torres said.

The Cubs saw the best of Bay, too.

With two outs in the first and Bautista aboard, he sent a fastball from Chicago's Juan Mateo into the left-field bleachers for his 30th home run and a 2-0 head start.

The Cubs got one of those runs back in the bottom half off Victor Santos, but the Pirates put up three more in the third. Bautista tripled home Chris Duffy, and Bay rocketed a slider from Mateo back into the bleachers for No. 31 and a 5-2 lead.

That marked the ninth two-homer game of Bay's career, his third of the season. It also made him the second right-handed hitter in franchise history with back-to-back 30-homer seasons. Ralph Kiner did it six consecutive years, 1947-52.

Bay credited an early-afternoon workout in the cage.

"I regrouped a little," he said. "I made up my mind to wait for pitches I could handle."

Santos was yanked after 3 1/3 innings and was charged with four runs, but the relievers limited Chicago to one unearned run the rest of the way. The bullpen has given up one earned run in the past five games, a span of 17 2/3 innings.

There was one other key, too: The Cubs had Lee on third with one out in the seventh, and Blanco hit a one-hop smash to Bautista at third. He made a split-second backhand stop, then fired home to nail Lee and preserve a 5-5 tie.

"Difference in the game," Tracy called it.

The Pirates are 12-2 in one-run games since the All-Star break, the best such record in Major League Baseball. They were 9-25 before the break.