Suddenly, Cubs' bats deliver in comeback win

The Cubs have been searching all season for an offensive spark to elevate them from their recent level of mediocrity, and they may have found it Thursday afternoon in a 6-5 come-from-behind thriller over the White Sox in front of 40,467 raucous witnesses at Wrigley Field.

After 61 games and 7 innings of offensive ineptitude, the explosion finally came when it was needed most. Trailing 5-1 heading into the eighth, the Cubs had managed just 4 puny singles off Sox starter Gavin Floyd and were on the verge of losing for the sixth time in seven games.

Even after pinch hitter Micah Hoffpauir reached on an error by Sox second baseman Chris Getz to lead off the inning against Scott Linebrink and Alfonso Soriano followed with a single, it looked to be just another tease. Ryan Theriot popped out and Milton Bradley struck out. But Derrek Lee, one of very few Cubs hitters not slumping, launched his eighth homer, a 3-run shot into the basket in right-center field, to make it a 1-run game. Geovany Soto, who began the day hitting. 217, followed with his fifth homer, a no-doubter to left center that tied it.

All 4 runs off Linebrink were unearned, but that didn't absolve him of blame.

"I think the reason they won is because Linebrink didn't throw the ball over the plate, and when he did they hit it for a home run," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We had everything under control. You're up by 4 after (71/2 innings), most of the time the White Sox win. A good percent of the time we win. It didn't happen today.''

In the Cubs' ninth, pinch hitter Reed Johnson led with a single off Matt Thornton and was bunted to second. Soriano, who began the day at .225 and was 1-for-21 before his single in the eighth, won it by dumping a soft liner into right-center. That made a winner of Kevin Gregg (1-1), who worked a scoreless ninth, and a loser of Thornton (4-2).

Cubs manager Lou Piniella has spoken several times to Soriano about seeing pitches longer and going more to right field, and it finally worked.

"That's what I try to do," Soriano said. "But when you're struggling, nothing works. I've been struggling for weeks. I think I needed a game like this."

The Cubs climbed back to the .500 mark (31-31) for the 13th time this season, while the Sox, who had won three straight and four of five, dropped to 31-35.

The Cubs' offensive outburst rewarded Piniella, who has been patient - overly patient, according to his critics - while waiting for the lineup to justify his faith.

"These guys get paid well because they've done good things in the past," Piniella said. "As frustrating as it gets at time, you've got to (be patient). You have to give these guys every opportunity to win. Some of them are starting to show signs. Let's see what happens. We cling to the fact that we're going to swing the bats better. Hopefully a game like this springs us loose."

Prior to Friday's outburst, the Cubs had scored just 10 runs in six games, and they've scored 6 runs or more just twice in their previous 12 games and only three times in their last 17. But there are good signs. Lee's homer stretched his hitting streak to 15 games, and Milton Bradley singled twice to run his streak to seven games, during which he's hitting .436 and has raised his average from .208 to .243.

"It's been a long time since we've scored some runs," Lee said. "This was a good day for us. We were able to make a comeback, so I think this will do a lot for our confidence. We're not out of the game, even though we're down a few runs late. We've been in an offensive funk, so to score some runs late off some really good pitchers is big for us. It would've been tough (to lose this one)."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=301452">Game 2: Cubs vs. Sox (June 18) </a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=301504"><b>BARRY ROZNER:</b> Cubs never needed a bounce like this<span class="date"> [6/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301489">Suddenly, it's blue thunder at Wrigley Field<span class="date"> [6/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301492">Sox' bullpen takes one on the chin<span class="date"> [6/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301496">Wood, DeRosa return to Wrigley<span class="date"> [6/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301510">Getz, Beckham starting to produce<span class="date"> [6/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301514">What a finish to a shortened series<span class="date"> [6/18/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>