Strange brew: Cubs win
How about this for one bizarro night at the onset of the stretch drive?
This has nothing to do with most of the 40,884 at Wrigley Field singing their own a capella version of "Take Me out to the Ballgame" because they didn't like guest conductor Bob Uecker root, root, rooting for the Brewers.
No, the field of play itself provided plenty of truth-is-stranger-than fiction moments as the Cubs rallied from a 3-0 deficit for a 5-3 victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday.
The Cubs (67-63) knocked the Brewers (65-66) into third place, with St. Louis holding at 2 games back in second place after their 7-0 victory at Houston.
"Good crowd, good crowd here," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "They're into the game, and they know their baseball."
The loud and boisterous crowd got these treats:
• Cubs pitcher Rich Hill, after failing to bunt in the third inning, singled in the Cubs' first run in the fifth after being allowed to bat for himself with a man on second and two outs.
• Piniella sending Cliff Floyd from first base on a hit-and-run in the seventh. The gamble paid off, leading to a 4-run inning.
• Reliever Howry battling Gabe Gross in a 12-pitch at-bat in the eighth, finally getting Gross to pop out with two on.
"It's an important series," Piniella said. "You win the first game, you get yourself in good position. I tell you what, Hill pitched well. Milwaukee's got a nice lineup."
The Cubs looked listless in the bottom of the fifth, when they trailed Brewers pitcher Jeff Suppan 3-0. With two outs, Jason Kendall doubled.
Instead of sending up a pinch hitter, Piniella allowed Hill to bat, and he promptly drove Kendall home with a line single to left-center.
"We've been working on it a lot on the road in the batting cages," said a sheepish Hill, who improved to 8-7. "We work on the bunting, too. It just didn't work out."
Piniella wasn't done laughing at convention, and it paid off in a 4-run seventh that must have had Uecker reaching for the earplugs.
Floyd led off by being hit by a pitch, chasing Suppan in favor of Scott Linebrink.
With Mark DeRosa up, Piniella put Floyd, hardly the fastest runner, in motion. DeRosa grounded to deep short, and everybody was safe.
"You've got to put guys in motion," Floyd said. "You have to be able to play small ball sometimes and win like that."
Jacque Jones followed with a game-tying double to the gap in right-center. The Cubs got another run later when Linebrink couldn't handle Ryan Theriot's high comebacker. Derrek Lee ended the 4-run inning with a run-scoring single.
Jones, hardly a fan favorite over his first year-and-a-half here, said his confidence was the same during the tough times.
"I thought that in the first half; it just didn't happen," he said. "Every day is a day for me to do something positive. Nothing's changed. Balls are just falling in."
Hill opened the game by striking out the side and getting 2 more strikeouts in the second. He gave up a run in the second and 2 in the fifth as Corey Hart scored 2 with a single to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead.
"Got the 3-0 lead, and it's kind of been the way things have gone for us a little bit," lamented Brewers manager Ned Yost. "We get a lead and have trouble holding it."
Cubs 5, Brewers 3
At the plate: Jacque Jones drove in the tying runs in the Cubs' 4-run seventh inning; Jones earlier had a single. Jason Kendall singled and doubled. Pitcher Rich Hill had an RBI single.
On the mound: Lefty Rich Hill (8-7) worked 7 innings, giving up 7 hits and 3 runs. He walked no one and struck out nine. Hill threw 108 pitches, 78 strikes. It was his third straight quality start. Bob Howry stranded two in the eighth. Ryan Dempster earned his 22nd save in 24 chances by working a scoreless ninth.
-- Bruce Miles