Harden electrifies in dazzling debut

Rich Harden had absolutely no trouble winning over Cubs fans.

The right-handed starter made a huge splash in his debut with the Cubs on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants, as he struck out 10, allowed 5 hits and walked 3 in 5 1/3 innings in an 8-7, 11-inning win at Wrigley Field.

Harden received love from the fans before he warmed up, and when he was done with his performance, brought 41,000-plus to their feet.

"I had a lot of people tell me this was going to be a good experience, and it was," said Harden, who earned a no-decision after the Giants rallied to tie the game with 5 runs in the ninth inning. "I really didn't know what to expect coming in. I wanted to treat it like any other start. I had a lot of adrenaline going in the first couple of innings."

Harden was electric from the start, as fans roared when his first pitch as a Cub was a strike. His best inning was the fourth, when he struck out the side. Giants right fielder John Bowker fanned three times, and first baseman Rich Aurilia fell twice. Nine of San Francisco's strikeouts were swinging.

After the fourth inning, the Giants made better contact with Harden's pitches.

The only jam Harden faced was back-to-back singles from Eugenio Velez and Jose Castillo with two outs in the fifth, but the inning ended on a Ray Durham groundout.

Harden left the game after he recorded his 10th strikeout. He was relieved by Chad Gaudin, the other part of the trade that brought them to the Cubs from the Oakland Athletics earlier this week.

Having a lot of run support was something that made Harden's transition much easier, and he departed with a 7-0 lead.

"Harden pitched really, really well," said Cubs manager Lou Pinella. "He did a nice job. It's a shame he didn't get the win."

The fan reaction caught Harden a bit off-guard.

"It was a pretty cool feeling," he said. "I've never had anything like that pitching in Oakland."

Cubs catcher Geovany Soto said Harden was amazing.

"Wow," said Soto, who walked, singled and scored twice during Harden's tenure on the mound. "He's a smart kid. We were working together in the first and second innings, and then all of the sudden, we clicked. He came out and everyone was cheering for him. He put on a great show. Everything was going good and I'm really happy to see that.

"He was all we were hoping for and more."