Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, from Squirrel Hill and Shady Side Academy, spent an inning and a half in the FSN broadcast booth early last night at PNC Park. Maybe he was seeking a Pirates farm report.

Immediate, post-trade answers about the future of his hometown ballclub, however, were not forthcoming.

Garrett Jones made his Pirates debut, but went hitless in four at-bats as a No. 3 hitter and failed in his attempt to make an acrobatic catch -- no Nyjer Morgan comparisons necessary -- of a Geovany Soto, sixth-inning triple. Virgil Vasquez made his second Pirates start a quality one, giving up three runs in six innings, but two Chicago homers were enough for a 4-1 Cubs win. And deposed Nationals closer Joel Hanrahan, newly acquired from Washington in that Morgan-Sean Burnett deal, turned in a scoreless seventh inning in his Pirates debut.

It got so bad, with two out in the bottom of the ninth, a small, derisive cheer arose from a handful of the 15,770 patrons inside PNC Park: "Here we go Steelers, here we go."

It is July, after all.

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Today

• Game: Pirates vs. New York Mets, 12:35 p.m., PNC.

• TV, radio: x FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).

• Pitching: LHP Paul Maholm (5-4, 4.35) vs. RHP Tim Redding (1-3, 6.35).

• Season series: Tied, 3-3.

• Key matchup: Jack Wilson is a .385 career hitter off Redding, 10 for 26 with three RBIs.

• Of note:

• Catch more on the Pirates at the PG's PBC Blog.

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Training camp for one of the city's two world champions opens at month's end, the same day as baseball's trading deadline.

"We only had one double," shortstop Jack Wilson said afterward, shrugging his shoulders. "So ..."

You aren't going to score often when your feast-or-famine offense is that starved for extra-base hits.

The amazing thing was, that double came in the first Pirates at-bat of the night as Andrew McCutchen led off against Cubs rookie starter Randy Wells (3-3), moved to third on a Jones groundout to the right side and scored on Brandon Moss' two-out single. Then, the Pirates' offense effectively closed for business.

"A tough pitcher," said Jones, recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis after the two-trade Tuesday. "He really doesn't overpower you, but he has a lot of movement and a good changeup. Doesn't give you a lot to hit or drive."

The Pirates mustered six hits, none in the final four innings. They never successfully got a runner beyond second after McCutchen, who ended a 1-for-20 slump with a two-hit night. Wilson was thrown out at home in the fifth being waved home on a short, two-out single to left by Freddy Sanchez.

Chicago collected all the runs it would need off Vasquez in the first. Left fielder Sam Fuld doubled for his first major league hit, and, one out later, Derrek Lee clubbed a two-run homer. That first-pitch fastball to Lee and a sixth-inning homer by Kosuke Fukudome accounted for Vasquez's three earned runs and the two most prominent pitches he wanted back from the 101he threw.

"Behind in counts, not pitching to contact -- the type of pitcher I am, that's [the opposite of] what I've got to be," Vasquez said. "It showed in some long innings."

Hanrahan, acquired a day earlier, relieved Vasquez in the seventh. He allowed Fuld's leadoff single, but then got Ryan Theriot to ground out. After three sliders in succession to Lee, Hanrahan struck him out with a 95-mph fastball. In all, Hanrahan hit 92, 93 (three times), 94 (five times) and then 95 mph on his seven fastballs among 11 pitches.

"I was excited when the [bullpen] phone rang," Hanrahan said. "I like it that they had faith in me already, that they went to me in a 3-1 game. I was happy to get out there and contribute for this team, definitely.

"It is a young team here," said Hanrahan, who lowered his ERA from 7.71 to 7.49. "The guys here are excited and have a lot of energy. They get out there and play the game hard, and that's the kind of guy I am. Those are the kind of guys I want to be around."