Jon Lieber, a 20-game winner a year ago, did his imitation of water torture yesterday, pounding slider after slider for outs and running his record to 7-0 against his former team in a 5-1, rain-shortened victory at PNC Park.
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After taking a throw from Armando Rios in right field, Jason Kendall tags out the Cubs' Mario Encarnacion at the plate. (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette photos) |
An All-Star a year ago, Lieber limited the Pirates to a run on four hits through five innings. The game was delayed three times by rain and was finally called after 7 1/2 innings.
"It's a tough day. You sit around all day, start up and sit again. Not ideal conditions. But hey, you have to get it done and we didn't get it done," Pirates Manager Lloyd McClendon said. "Anytime you sit all day in the conditions we were in, it's a little frustrating. To lose the game in the fashion in which we did was a little frustrating."
To get in 2 hours and 16 minutes of baseball, the Pirates and Cubs waited 99 minutes to start the game, then endured a 93-minute delay in the bottom of the fifth with the contest two outs away from being official. It was finally called at 7:44 p.m. after another 43-minute delay, even though McClendon lobbied to have the Pirates bat in the bottom of the eighth.
Most of the 16,045 in attendance had exited long before play was halted for the final time.
After Armando Rios threw out a runner at the plate in the second, the Cubs opened the floodgates by batting around for four runs in the third off Ron Villone, who allowed three hits and three walks, including one intentional, and threw a wild pitch.
With the bases loaded, Alex Gonzalez hit a two-run single to left. A wild pitch advanced the runners and another walk loaded the bases before Mark Bellhorn's two-run double made it 4-0. Villone was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the third. It was the second shortest stint by a starter this season.
"He just didn't have it. It happens," McClendon said. "He battled. But he got the ball up, and they took advantage of it. I don't think we can be overly analytical. He hung breaking balls. His cutter was staying in the middle of the plate. He just didn't have anything."
The Pirates, who had been 6-1 in day games, got a run back in the fourth. With Abraham Nunez and Aramis Ramirez aboard with singles, Rios drove in the run with a groundout. Nunez got the start over Pokey Reese at second base because he was 6 for 14 lifetime against Lieber; Reese had one hit in 14 at-bats.
The rain came again in the bottom of the fifth. Jack Wilson was at-bat with a 1-0 count when home plate umpire Ed Montague called for the tarp. Ninety-three minutes later, Lieber retired Wilson on a flyout and then completed the inning to get the win.
"It's just a long day. It's tough on everybody. But that's baseball," Wilson said.
The Pirates have the lowest batting average in the league. And Lieber, who threw 42 of his 57 pitches for strikes, was not about to let them break out.
"The main thing is he's always around the plate and he works fast," Kevin Young said. "That's a distraction for hitters. Everything's moving so fast. Hitters want to slow things down a little bit. Hitting is like a rhythm. When you're forced to go at his pace, it's hard to do."
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Pirates starter Ron Villone dropped to 1-2 after giving up four runs in the third inning yesterday. | |
McClendon said Lieber was one of his favorite players when he was in Pittsburgh. And Lieber, who was traded in 1998 for Brant Brown, remains a puzzle to his former team.
"If we knew what we could do, we'd go out and do it. He's been tough on us. He did what he had to do to get the win," McClendon said.
The Pirates' manager is more concerned about getting the offense going and molding this year's club, which is still an unknown commodity two weeks into a 26-week season.
"The one thing we're still trying to learn how to do is be consistent and do the things you're supposed to do on a daily basis," he said. "We're still learning how to do it. We don't a have lineup filled with veteran guys who know how to go out and win. We're still going through that process. It takes time.
"After last year, if you would have told me we'd have a winning record at this point in the season, I would be asking which one of you do I kiss. I don't know where it leads us, but it's a whole hell of a lot better than the start we had last year."
Lieber, Cubs register 5-1 victory over Pirates 
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