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(Sports Network) - The Pittsburgh Pirates play their first home game of the 2008 campaign when the Chicago Cubs invade PNC Park this afternoon for the opener of a three-game series between National League Central members.

Pittsburgh had a mildly successful road trip to begin this season, as the club split six contests in Atlanta and Florida and ended the trek with a 9-2 rout of the Marlins on Sunday. Ian Snell struck out 10 Florida hitters in six innings and the Pirates offense banged out 14 hits to help stop a two-game losing streak.

Nate McLouth led the charge with three hits, three runs scored and two batted in, while Chris Gomez finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and Xavier Nady slugged a two-run homer for Pittsburgh.

Snell (1-0) held the Marlins to two runs on four hits to earn his first victory of the young year. The hard-throwing right-hander's 10 strikeouts were one short of a career high.

Nady batted .385 (10-for-26) with three homers and knocked in nine runs during the road trip. McLouth also swung a hot bat on the swing, as the outfielder hit .429 (12-for-28) with seven RBI and six runs scored over the six games.

Chicago played its first six outings at home and went 3-3 during the residency, which culminated with back-to-back victories over Houston. In Sundays finale of a three-game set, Derrek Lee belted a tie-breaking solo home run in the seventh inning which lifted the Cubs to a 3-2 triumph over the Astros at Wrigley Field.

Lee jumped on the first pitch he saw from Houston reliever Oscar Villarreal and deposited it into the left-field bleachers for his second homer in as many games. The All-Star first baseman finished 2-for-3 with a double and a walk on the afternoon.

The blast made a winner out of Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano (1-0), who allowed just two runs over the first seven frames and fanned seven without a walk. Carlos Marmol protected the lead in the eighth before Kerry Wood worked a perfect ninth to register his third save of the year.

Alfonso Soriano, mired in a 1-for-22 slump coming into the game, also homered for Chicago.

A pair of left-handers will take the hill in todays tilt, with Tom Gorzelanny getting the starting assignment for the Pirates and the Cubs handing the ball to veteran Ted Lilly.

Gorzelanny posted a 14-10 record and a 3.88 earned run average in his first full big-league season last year, but the young hurler wasn't overly sharp in his 2008 debut this past Wednesday. He gave up three runs on six hits and walked three over six innings to take the loss in Pittsburghs 10-2 setback to Atlanta.

The 25-year-old has pitched well against the Cubs during his brief career. In four previous starts versus Chicago, Gorzelanny has recorded a 2.60 ERA along with a 2-2 record in 27 2/3 innings. He went 6-5 with a 3.74 ERA in 15 games at PNC Park last year.

Lilly, who won 15 games during his first season in Chicago a year ago, will be attempting to rebound from a subpar showing in his first start of 2008. The 32-year-old lasted just 4 2/3 frames in a loss to Milwaukee on Wednesday and surrendered four runs on five hits before hitting the showers.

The California native made three starts against the Pirates last year and went 1-0 with a 3.20 ERA in those games. That lone victory came in Pittsburgh last July, when Lilly threw 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball to lead the Cubs to a 7-1 triumph.

Pittsburgh is just 2-5 in home openers since PNC Park opened in 2001 and has lost its last three lid-lifters as the host. The Pirates will be without Jack Wilson for this entire series, as the slick-fielding shortstop was placed on the 15-day disabled list Sunday after straining his calf during the Atlanta series.

Second baseman Freddy Sanchez is expected to be back in Pittsburgh's lineup this afternoon after not starting the team's last three games due to an injured shoulder.

Chicago won eight of the 15 meetings between these divisional foes last year but has gone just 6-9 at PNC Park over the previous two seasons.