'Bad break' for Cubs

What should have been a story about Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster tossing a complete-game victory Wednesday night turned into something quite different -- and sobering for the Cubs.

Star left fielder Alfonso Soriano will be lost to the Cubs for approximately six weeks because of a broken left hand.

Soriano suffered the injury in the second inning of a 7-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field when he was hit on the left hand by a pitch from Braves starter Jeff Bennett.

The Cubs termed the injury a "minimally displaced fracture of the fourth metacarpal." Soriano left the game immediately and was taken to a hospital for X-rays. A Cubs official said Soriano will not need surgery, but he will need to wear a splint for about three weeks.

Soriano went home from the hospital and was not available for comment.

"Costly loss," said manager Lou Piniella, whose team won its third in a row to improve to 42-24. "He was just starting to run the way that we thought he would. He was playing well in the outfield, and he was hitting the ball for some power. It's a bad break for us, it really is.

"It's a shame, it really is. But things happen in baseball."

The Cubs had scored 3 runs in the first on a homer by Kosuke Fukudome. Soriano came up in the second with a man on second and two outs when Bennett's fastball rode up and in.

The previous night, Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly threw over the head of Braves catcher Brian McCann after a homer by Greg Norton in the first. Neither side seemed to think there was any ill intent Wednesday. Bennett was not available to reporters.

"We went away, away, and we were trying to go in with a fastball, hopefully lock him up," said McCann, who got hit in the ribs by Dempster in the fourth inning. "Obviously it got away from (Bennett). I hate to see that. That's terrible. By no means was it even close to being intentional."

"I don't thing so, I really don't," Piniella said of any carry-over.

Soriano is batting .283 with 15 homers and 40 RBI. He spent time on the disabled list in April with a strained right calf and seemed to be hitting his stride. He missed time last year with hamstring and quadriceps injuries but led the Cubs to the playoffs in September.

"That's a real bummer," Dempster said. "It's hard to sit back and enjoy your victory when one of your best players and one of your leaders of your team goes down. He's proven in the past that he's a pretty darn quick healer, so hopefully this is the minimum time missed.

"It's up to the other guys to pick him up. We've got a strong team here, and to me, that's been the thing that's been most noticeable. When guys have been asked to play, they've done such a good job."

Dempster tossed a 4-hitter, throwing 119 pitches. He gave up a 2-run homer to Corky Miller in the seventh but ran his record to 8-2 and improved his ERA from 2.90 to 2.81.

"What an ovation," said Dempster, who was the Cubs' closer the last three years. "The crowd was buzzing, and the energy was unreal. It was a good win. We put up some runs early, and the guys took the pressure off me just to go out there make pitches.

"To go through everything I've been through and come back as a starter and throw a complete game like that at Wrigley Field is a good experience."

Cubs 7, Braves 2

At the plate: Kosuke Fukudome hit a 3-run homer in the first inning to get the Cubs rolling. Ryan Theriot hit a 2-run double in the second, and the Cubs got 2 more in the third.

On the mound: Ryan Dempster (8-2) tossed a complete game, giving up 4 hits. It was his eighth straight win at Wrigley Field. Dempster tossed his first complete game since Sept. 25, 2002, when he was with the Reds. The last Cubs complete game before Wednesday was by Carlos Zambrano, on June 16, 2007.

-- Bruce Miles