Stomach-turning win for Cubs
HOUSTON -- The inning started out so Cublike.
With the Cubs up 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth, embattled closer Ryan Dempster got Mark Loretta to chop the ball toward first base. That's where the ball ended up, hitting the bag for a hit.
You could see it coming.
Pinch hitter Mike Lamb tripled home the run.
Guess what? Dempster and the Cubs got out of it, holding on for a 3-2 victory that had manager Lou Piniella talking about a different kind of Cubs luck.
"This type of game really should get us on a roll," said Piniella whose team improved to 74-71 and regained a first-place tie with Milwaukee in the NL Central. "You have to think that the worm has turned. Man on third with no outs and to get out of that with just a great double play, you've got to feel that things are going to start going your way."
The Cubs got a little good luck to win their first game this year at Houston. With Lamb on third, Luke Scott grounded out to third base.
Pinch hitter Orlando Palmeiro walked, and Astros manager Cecil Cooper sent a catcher, Eric Munson, to pinch hit. The Cubs were thinking double play.
Munson bounced to Derrek Lee at first. The ball took a tricky hop, and Lee stopped the ball with his bare hand and recovered to start a slow-developing 3-6-1 double play.
"It took a bad hop, and I was able to stop it with this (right) hand," Lee said. "I knew once I did that, I had time."
As big as that was, Piniella made special mention of the game's most important player: starting pitcher Rich Hill.
On a night when the Cubs needed a deep pitching performance, Hill (9-8, 3.91 ERA) gave it to them with 7 innings of 3-hit ball.
"The big thing about that game tonight, outside of the fact we won, I'm really proud of the way our young left-hander pitched today," Piniella said. "It was a pressure game for him to pitch in, and he responded as well as or better than you can expect. I was extremely proud of him.
"For a young pitcher to pitch in the middle of September, you grow up quick this way."
Hill knew what was at stake.
"I felt it was time to step up, especially after the previous two outings," he said. "I didn't feel that I was throwing the ball that poorly, but didn't get the results. Just make sure to come out today and keep the good mental frame of mind to stay aggressive."
The Cubs offense did just enough. Cliff Floyd led off the second inning with his sixth homer. Before the game, Piniella told Floyd he was his "pick to click."
The Cubs got another run that inning on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Theriot, who added an RBI single in the fourth after Floyd opened with a triple. They got a big defensive play when left fielder Alfonso Soriano gunned down Hunter Pence at third in the eighth on a one-out single by Craig Biggio.
"As long as we score 1 more than the other team and I've got enough Maalox, everything is fine," said Piniella, who added he doesn't take Maalox. "This is a confidence game for this whole team."
Cubs 3, Astros 2
At the plate: Cliff Floyd opened the scoring with a solo homer in the second, his sixth. Floyd later tripled. Mark DeRosa singled and doubled. Ryan Theriot, dropped to eighth in the order, had a sacrifice fly, a single and a walk.
On the mound: Lefty Rich Hill turned in a quality start, with 7 innings of 3-hit, 1-run ball. Mark Loretta homered off Hill leading off the seventh. Hill threw a season-high 116 pitches, 80 for strikes. Bob Howry, working his third straight day, gave up 3 hits, but no runs, in the eighth. Ryan Dempster survived a tricky ninth to earn his 26th save.
-- Bruce Miles