Cole Hamels kept the Pittsburgh Pirates in check Wednesday night in his return to the National League. The lefty picked up in a trade with the Texas Rangers last week gave up one unearned run in five innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 9-2 win at PNC Park. Hamels struck out nine and walked two. He was backed by strong offensive contributions from catcher Willson Conteras who had three hits and three RBI and Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist who also had three hits each. With the victory, the Cubs split the two game series and move back into first in the National League Central by a game over Milwaukee. They are back at Wrigley Field Thursday night to begin a four game set against the San Diego Padres. Pitching matchup has Robbie Erlin (1-3) going for the Padres and Mike Montgomery (3-4) for the Cubs. The game can be heard on Lite 103 WAKO beginning with the pregame at 6:30 p.m. Central Time 7:30 Eastern.