great progress, according to manager Joe Maddon. ..

CHICAGO -- Miguel Montero waited for five hours before he got a chance to play. And then he had to face a crafty left-hander with the bases loaded.One soft liner made it all worth it.Montero hit a game-ending RBI single in the 13th inning, and the Chicago Cubs rallied for a wild 8-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.Its a winning team, winning attitude, Montero said. Thats (what) its all about. We never quit. We know we can come back anytime. Weve done it all season long, and we did it again today.Dexter Fowler, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo set the stage for Monteros clutch swing with consecutive singles against Jeff Locke (9-8), plating the tying run. After Ben Zobrist was walked intentionally, Montero dumped a 1-2 pitch into left for a big pinch-hit single.The major league-leading Cubs (83-47) dropped two of three in Los Angeles over the weekend, and then their flight to Chicago was delayed. They arrived early Monday morning, and still had enough in reserve to outlast the scrappy Pirates.They had to be tired today, but nevertheless played `til post-midnight with energy, manager Joe Maddon said, and I love it.Rob Zastryzny (1-0) got his first major league win despite allowing Josh Harrisons sacrifice fly in the top half of the inning. Jorge Soler and Willson Contreras homered for the Cubs, and Javier Baez collected four hits.Pittsburgh had won eight straight road games. It fell 1 1/2 games back of St. Louis for the second NL wild card.Nothing to hang our heads about, Harrison said. We went out there and gave it everything we had. We got contributions from a lot of different people. We just came up short.Gregory Polanco and Josh Bell helped the Pirates build a 6-3 lead with opposite-field homers against Jake Arrieta, but Contreras belted a two-run shot to center against Neftali Feliz in the eighth and Soler connected for a tying solo shot in the ninth against closer Tony Watson.Baez was thrown out at the plate to end the 10th and 12th innings. Catcher Francisco Cervelli made a nice lunging tag to get Baez on Rizzos inning-ending double play in the 10th, and then corralled left fielder Starling Martes outstanding throw in time to get Baez in the 12th.Youve got to do everything perfectly and in our case it was done, twice, Locke said.Rizzo, one of the leading candidates for NL MVP, also struck out with runners on the corners for the final out of the eighth. But his single in the 13th drove in Fowler with the tying run.Bells one-out shot to left in the fourth was Pittsburghs first hit of the game. With two outs and runners on first and second in the sixth, Polanco drove Arrietas first pitch over the wall in left for a 4-3 Pittsburgh lead.Polanco also hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the sixth inning of the Pirates 3-1 win at Milwaukee on Sunday. He was batting just .138 (4 for 29) against Arrieta before his team-best 21st homer.Arrieta was charged with six runs -- matching a season high, also against Pittsburgh on July 8 -- and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. The ace right-hander went 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA in his first four August starts, recalling his dominant second-half run to the NL Cy Young Award a year ago.I didnt pitch as well as I would have liked, he said. Obviously the two homers were kind of the dagger for me.ON SEPTEMBERActive major league rosters can expand to as many as 40 players on Thursday, and Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said the team isnt ready to discuss in detail what it might do.Weve been working on it and continue to work on it next few days, both our internal decisions and anything that we might consider from outside the organization, too, he said.Asked about Tommy La Stella, who is playing for Triple-A Iowa after initially refusing to report to the minors, Epstein said he thinks the infielder will rejoin the Cubs this week.TRAINERS ROOMPirates: RHP Tyler Glasnow (shoulder) was activated from the 15-day DL and optioned to Indianapolis, where he will make at least one start before the Triple-A season ends next week.Cubs: RHP Pedro Strop (left meniscus tear) is throwing again, and RHP Hector Rondon (right triceps strain) also is making great progress, according to manager Joe Maddon. ... RHP John Lackey (right shoulder strain) threw a side session.UP NEXTCubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (12-7, 2.19 ERA) and Pirates RHP Chad Kuhl (3-1, 3.50 ERA) get the ball for the second game of the series on Tuesday night. Hendricks is 3-0 with a 1.53 ERA in five August starts. Kuhl allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision in his previous start Thursday at Milwaukee. Custom High School Shirts Store . Schenn scored the game-winning goal and added two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday. Custom High School Jerseys .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. http://www.customjerseyshighschool.com/ . Thousands of fans at Mosaic Stadium will be cozying up to each other in an effort to stay warm in chilly temperatures and block the Prairie wind that locals say can knock your socks off. Custom High School Shirts . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Cheap Custom High School Jerseys . General manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch on Friday that he wants to see Gaboriks contributions go beyond the scoresheet before considering a long-term deal for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent. TORONTO -- DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors pushed aside the Minnesota Timberwolves -- again.With Toronto down 95-94 with 8:46 left, DeRozan and Lowry keyed a 17-4 Raptors run that took the game away from the youthful Timberwolves. Toronto eventually pulled out a 124-110 victory, handing Minnesota its 13th straight loss at the Air Canada Centre.We just picked it up, DeRozan said. We kicked in our experience of understanding how we have to win games. We cant underestimate a team like that that plays extremely hard.DeRozan had a team-high 27 points for the Raptors, Lowry added 25 points with 11 assists, and Jonas Valanciunas registered his team-leading sixth double-double on 20 points and 10 rebounds.We just have guys that are used to it, trying to come through at the end of games and sticking with the game plan and sticking with the course of action, Lowry said.After Toronto fell behind 11-2, coach Dwane Casey sat all his starters except for DeRozan in an attempt to get kick-start his team into action. Toronto still trailed by 10 at the end of the first quarter, but it sent a message.We can be a good team, but we cant be special if we allow things to happen that happened in the first two quarters, Casey said.His counterpart, Tom Thibodeau, shared that sentiment, especially after seeing his team enter the final 12 minutes with the lead, 89-88. However, the Timberwolves could only shoot 38.9 percent in the final quarter, allowing the Raptors to outscore them 36-21.I thought the first three quarters were very good, connected, making the right reads, right plays, ball movement and screening a lot of good things happened, Thibodeau said. Then in the fourth quarter we got away from that.Zach LaVine led all Timberwolves scorers with 29 points, while Andrew WWiggins, playing in his homtown for the third time in the NBA, had 25.ddddddddddddHowever, the loss didnt take off too much of the shine playing in front of family and friends for the Canadian, who is still waiting for his first taste of NBA victory on home soil.We need to get that first win here for it to be really good, but its always good to play back home, he said.TIP-INSTimberwolves: Minnesota fell to 2-14 when allowing 100 or more points. The Timberwolves have had double-digit first-half leads in 11 of their 22 games. The 37 points that Toronto scored in the second quarter were the most Minnesota has given up in a second quarter this season.Raptors: Wore their blue-and-white Toronto Huskies uniforms for the second time this season. Uniforms are replicas of those worn by the Huskies during the NBAs inaugural season in 1946-47. DeRozan played his 543rd game for the Raptors, breaking a tie with Morris Peterson for the most in team history. Toronto successfully converted 10-or-more 3-pointers for an eighth straight game, extending its franchise record. Raptors are 10-1 this season when Carroll scores 10 or more points.HE SAID ITAll his shots are lucky. To me its a bad shot. -- DeRozan jokingly about Lowry, who with 5:41 to go in the third quarter drained a 31-foot jump shot, one of the five 3-pointers he had on the night.RING IT UPBefore the opening tip-off, USA Basketball mens national team director Sean Ford presented DeRozan and Lowry with their Team USA Olympic championship rings. The pair helped the U.S. win its third straight gold medal in August.UP NEXTTimberwolves: Host Detroit on Friday night.Raptors: At Boston on Friday night. ' ' '