Piniella happy with Theriot, but Soriano will keep leadoff spot

Cubs manager Lou Piniella can't say enough about how well Ryan Theriot has handled batting in the leadoff spot in the absence of the injured Alfonso Soriano.

But when Soriano returns from his right quad strain in a few weeks, Piniella said the left fielder would go back into the No. 1 spot.

"When Alfonso comes back he'll take over the leadoff spot," Piniella said. "Theriot is doing a really good job of filling in there, a really good job, but Alfonso is going to be our leadoff hitter when he gets back."

Theriot is batting .333 (16-for-48) with 10 runs scored in 11 games batting leadoff since Aug. 5 when Soriano went out of the lineup. In six of those games Theriot had more than 1 hit.

"Theriot enjoys challenges," Piniella said. "He works the count, he puts the ball in play and he can run. He's just been really, really good for us."

Floyd near return: The Cubs moved outfielder Cliff Floyd from the bereavement list to the restricted list Sunday, where he likely will stay (without pay) until Tuesday.

Floyd rejoined the team Sunday but wasn't available to the media. Lou Piniella said Floyd would accompany the team on this week's road trip to San Francisco and Arizona.

"I think we'll probably need to make a (roster) move when we get to San Francisco," Piniella said.

Floyd has been away for the team for more than a week due to the death of his father.

Upon further review: Catcher Jason Kendall called it a lucky bounce off the brick wall behind home plate Saturday that enabled him to flip the wild pitch to pitcher Carlos Marmol for a key out on the sliding Albert Pujols.

Pujols argued to umpire Ted Barrett that he was safe. Was he?

"I don't know," Kendall said. "He called him out."

Barrett admitted to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Pujols might have beaten the tag.

"I got to the best angle on the play that I could," Barrett said. "I probably didn't get the best view of the play, but I got to the best place I could. It was a close play. It's possible Albert got his hand in there."

One-pitch wonder: Scott Eyre wanted to know Sunday how many pitchers ever had a one-pitch strikeout such as the one fellow reliever Carmen Pignatiello recorded Saturday.

"How many times in history has that happened?" Eyre asked.

Pignatiello needed only one pitch to strike out Chris Duncan after inheriting a 1-2 count from Bob Howry following a 65-minute rain delay.

"In college, I got a win once without ever throwing a pitch," Eyre said. "I came in, picked a guy off second and we won on a walkoff."

Funny guy: While Lou Piniella said Tony La Russa batting his pitcher eighth made sense in that it moved the No. 9 hitter closer to the middle of the lineup, he still ruled out trying it.

"Will I do it? Probably not because I didn't think of it," Piniella said, laughing. "Tony and I grew up together, and I'm not going to give him that credit."

Looking good: Pitcher Jeff Samardzija ran his record at Class AA Tennessee to 3-0 with a 3.12 ERA with a 10-4 win over Chattanooga on Saturday.