Cubs swallow hard, rein in losing streak

At the time, it seemed like unconventional advice when manager Lou Piniella proposed a pregame plan for the Cubs to end the eight-game losing streak they lugged into Tuesday night's game.

Piniella painted a picture as only he can.

"How do you eat a Whopper?" he said. "You eat it one bite at a time. You don't just swallow the (darn) thing. And that's how you come out of this thing baseball wise. It's one at-bat at a time, one pitch at a time, one inning at a time, one game at a time; that's how you come out of it. There's no magic formula or cure-all. You have to battle, and I'm positive we will."

The Cubs did on a damp Tuesday night, and they did it Lou's way, scratching out single runs in each of the first three innings before a super-sized fifth inning produced 3 runs and a 6-1 victory when the game was called in the sixth inning after a rain delay of 1 hour and 2 minutes.

Alfonso Soriano led off the big inning against Ian Snell (1-6) with a single to right, stole second and continued to third when Robinzon Diaz's throw sailed high and wide into center field. Ryan Theriot's soft flyball single to short right-center gave the Cubs a 4-1 lead. Walks to Kosuke Fukudome and Milton Bradley loaded the bases, and back-to-back singles by Micah Hoffpauir and Mike Fontenot each drove in a run.

Piniella dashed the idea that a blowup by the sometimes volatile manager was necessary to snap the Cubs out of their recent slump, and his team proved him right.

"What good does that do?" Piniella said. "Look, the manager blowing up isn't going to do anything. You have to play on the field. If anything, it's time for me to be really positive with this situation. There's no magic formula to it. I wish that we could sprinkle some magic dust and get this thing turned around, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. You just keep battling, and you fight your way through it."

Cubs starter Sean Marshall sprinkled in 6 strikeouts while allowing 1 run on 4 hits, improving his record to 3-3 and lowering his ERA to 3.70.

Fukudome's fifth homer put the Cubs ahead 1-0 in the first inning, and Marshall gave himself a 2-0 lead in the second when his single to center scored Mike Fontenot, who had doubled to the wall in right.

"I guess it was a pretty good pitch," Marshall said. "I was just able to put the ball in play, and sometimes when you can put the bat on the ball good things happen."

In the third Bradley walked with two outs and scored on Hoffpauir's double over right fielder Craig Monroe's head.

Piniella hopes now to see a team that's stronger after battling through adversity.

"I think when you come out of it, you should come out of it a little tougher with a little more confidence," he said. "That's what we're sticking to, and that's what we're going to try to do. (Monday) night we started to hit the ball a little harder (in a 10-8 loss). Let's just stay on that path."

Tuesday night they did, and it led to the end of a nasty slump, the worst in more than three years.

Bob LeGere's game tracker

Friendly confines: After scoring 5 runs in six games on the recently completed road trip, all losses, the Cubs have scored 14 runs in 15 innings on the current homestand. They improved to 13-8 at home for a .619 winning percentage but are just 9-14 (.391 winning percentage) on the road.

Waiting in rain: Light pregame rain caused a seven-minute delay at the start of the game, and a heavier rain stopped the game after three pitches in the top of the sixth, at 8:58, with the Cubs leading 6-1.

K-Man: Cubs starter Sean Marshall struck out at least one batter in each of the first five innings and finished with 6. Marshall has allowed 2 earned runs or less in 12 of his last 18 starts.

On fire: Freddy Sanchez, who was 6-for-6 Monday night, was 2-for-3 Tuesday night.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=296443">Johnson provides advice to Bradley<span class="date"> [5/26/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>