The weather was miserable Monday, and the White Sox’s performance was just as dreary as they left U.S. Cellular Field with a 3-3 game against Baltimore that was suspended after 11 innings because of rain but should have been decided sooner.

“We stunk,” manager Ozzie Guillen said after the Sox stranded 14 baserunners. “I’m tired to see the effort like that.”

The Sox are 5-for-35 with runners in scoring position in their last four games after Monday’s 1-for-11 performance.

The game will be resumed at a later date. The Orioles have an off day June 23 in between a three-game set at Milwaukee and a three-game series at Wrigley Field against the Cubs. Or it could be finished when the Sox visit Baltimore for a three-game series Aug. 25-27.

Guillen was more irked by the shortcomings that occurred before and after closer Bobby Jenks blew his second save of the season in the ninth against Baltimore.

Nick Swisher fouled two bunt attempts before grounding into a double play in the eighth, and Brian Anderson failed to execute a squeeze bunt on a 2-1 count that resulted in Carlos Quentin getting caught in a rundown for the second out of the 10th.

“I got to get the job done,” Anderson said. “No excuses.”

And after Anderson drew his second walk to load the bases in the fourth, Alexei Ramirez grounded into an inning-ending force play on the next pitch.

“This is the big leagues,” Guillen said. “You should know what you’re doing.”

Several Sox players accepted responsibility.

“I stunk,” said A.J. Pierzynski, who stranded six runners. “If I get one hit, we win this game.”

All the individual statistics will count. That provided some consolation for starting pitcher Javier Vazquez, Quentin and Juan Uribe.

Vazquez left after eight innings and 100 pitches with a 2-1 lead. Guillen stood by his decision to pull him in favor of Jenks, who has five of his 14 blown saves against the Orioles.

“I have one of the best closers in the game for the past three years,” Guillen said. “That’s his job. He didn’t do what he always does.”

Quentin extended his hitting streak to eight games (12-for-26) and hit his sixth homer in the sixth.

Uribe came through with a game-tying homer in the 11th off George Sherrill, who had converted 11 straight save chances dating to last season with Seattle.

Uribe’s homer offset Ramon Hernandez’s homer in the top of the 11th off Scott Linebrink.

The start of the game was delayed 2 hours 6 minutes because of rain and marked the third delay in five days. That wore on Guillen, whose Sox embark on a six-game trip to Minnesota and Toronto with the security of playing indoors.

Nationals manager Manny Acta sure expects a lot from 23-year-old rookie John Lannan.

Consider Lannan had just thrown seven shutout innings in Washington’s 2-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Suday. What did Acta say? “I’ve seen him better.”

Lannan (2-2) pitched four-hit ball in matching a career high for innings and extending his scoreless innings streak to 19. He lowered his ERA to 2.64 as the Nationals bounced back from a 7-0 loss to the Cubs Saturday. The left-hander struck out three, walked four and didn’t allow a hit until Ronny Cedeno singled to start the fifth.

“I’ve seen him better, but he showed me a lot today by being able to make pitches when he had to,” Acta said. “He had the ability to make good pitches and not allow any runs. That shows a lot for a kid that age.”

The left-hander was making just his 11th career start and had to work out of some tough situations, especially when Chicago threatened in the fifth and sixth innings. But Lannan kept his poise and escaped trouble.

I’ve been taught (that) instead of going hard, to take a step back and really make quality pitches and not try to overpower somebody,” Lannan said. “You’ve got to forget what happened in the past. You’ve got to work hard on what you’ve got going on right now.”

Lannan also credited catcher Wil Nieves for helping him.

Nieves was behind the plate for Lannan’s three most recent starts, including seven shutout innings against the Braves on April 22.

“It just seems like I’ve been catching him for a long time,” Nieves said. “He just seems like he knows what he’s doing out there, and he’s confident.”

Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch each pitch a hitless inning to complete the shutout. Rauch finished for his fourth save.

Lilly (1-4), making his 200th start, gave up two runs on four hits in six innings, with most of his trouble coming in the second inning when Wily Mo Pena and Nieves had back-to-back RBI singles. Washington got only one hit the rest of the game.

Nick Johnson started the second-inning rally with a leadoff single. Lastings Milledge moved Johnson to second with a sacrifice, and Pena brought him in two batters later with a two-out single to left.

Pena went to second on the throw home and scored on Nieves’ single.

Chicago missed scoring chances in the fifth and sixth. The Cubs loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Ryan Theriot grounded into a double play.

They put runners at second and third with one out in the sixth, but Lannan then got Mark DeRosa and Cedeno to ground out. The Cubs put runners on in seven of the nine innings and stranded eight.

“We didn’t score many runs,” Chicago manager Lou Piniella said. “When you don’t score many runs, it really increases the other team’s chances of winning— and that’s exactly what happened here.”

Joe Crede’s cool approach helped the Chicago White Sox end a long night with a victory and hand New York Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain his first major league defeat.

Crede lined an RBI single to center to score Carlos Quentin in the bottom of the ninth as Chicago beat New York 7-6 and avoided a three-game sweep.

“I think the biggest thing is to be able to control your emotions out there. The crowd is getting into it, especially when there is a guy on base in scoring position, and you have a chance for the base hit to win it,” Crede said after his hit set off a wild celebration at U.S. Cellular Field.

“You just go up there and try not to do too much and you know I’ve faced Chamberlain only twice so far, once being yesterday, and you kind of go through in the back of your head what kind of pitches he has and what they do,” Crede added. “You try to figure out what you need to do to try to go out there and just get a base hit.”

And Crede, who’s earned a reputation for getting clutch hits during his career, got a 1-2 pitch from the hard-throwing 22-year-old right-hander and delivered.

Chamberlain had given up just three earned runs in 32 innings over 26 regular-season appearances since being called up last year. He gave up one earned run in 19 outings in 2007.

“I’m not perfect every night,” said Chamberlain, who was the subject of much attention this week when team co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said he should be starting instead of relieving. “I give up hits and that’s the way it’s going to be. I let my team down.”

Quentin doubled with one out off Chamberlain (1-1) and Crede lined a single to left-center to score him.

“He’ll be fine. He’ll bounce back. He’s given up a run before in his life,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Chamberlain.

Crede, who’s made a strong comeback after back surgery last season, has already hit two grand slams this season. He’s the guy the White Sox like to see when they need a big hit.

“We like our chances with Joe up. He’s done it all year,” White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “He’s done it his whole career. He was the right guy in the right spot.”

Bobby Jenks (1-0) got pinch-hitter Jorge Posada to ground into an inning-ending double play with two runners on in the top of the ninth to get the win in a game twice delayed by rain.

Trailing 6-3, the Yankees tied it when Melky Cabrera hit a two-out, two-run homer off Gavin Floyd in the sixth, and Morgan Ensberg delivered a two-out RBI single off Scott Linebrink in the seventh.

Ensberg started a third straight game in place of injured Yankees star Alex Rodrigez, who rejoined the team Thursday but again didn’t play because of a strained right quadriceps. Rodriguez had been in Miami where his wife gave birth to their second child.

Floyd worked before and after a 51-minute rain delay in the third inning, allowing five hits and five runs in six innings.

Yankees starter Phil Hughes is still looking for his first win after five starts. New York took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third before the delay but decided not to bring back Hughes, their promising 21-year-old right-hander. Hughes allowed just one hit in his brief two-inning stint while throwing 23 pitches.

The White Sox scored five in the fourth off reliever Ross Ohlendorf. Orlando Cabrera reached on an infield single, Jim Thome walked, Paul Konerko had an RBI single, Jermaine Dye delivered a run-scoring single that skipped past Ensberg at third and Pierzynski added an RBI double over Bobby Abreu’s head in right.

Quentin then grounded to Ensberg, whose throw to the plate couldn’t get the sliding Dye as Chicago went up 4-3. Alexei Ramirez hit a ball down the right-field line that Abreu couldn’t reach and the RBI double made it 5-3.

Facing LaTroy Hawkins in the fifth, Thome hit his 513th homer and moved into sole possession of 19th place on the career list, breaking a tie with Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews. It gave Chicago a 6-3 lead.

Floyd had struggled with his control in the third, giving up a hit to Jason Giambi—who was batting .135—and walking Cabrera and Johnny Damon to load the bases. Giambi made a great slide around Pierzynski beating a strong throw from Dye, who caught Derek Jeter’s line drive in right field.

Abreu, who had a go-ahead grand slam in Tuesday night’s series opener, then doubled off the top of the left-field fence to drive in two, giving him 1,000 career RBIs.

In the sixth, Floyd gave up a two-out double to Giambi before Cabrera hit his fourth homer to cut Chicago’s lead to 6-5.

The lovable losers’ 10,000th win was a memorable one, filled with blown leads, big hits, great catches and, lastly, high-fives all around.

The Chicago Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies 7-6 on Ryan Theriot’s RBI single off Kip Wells with two outs in the 10th inning Wednesday night for their sixth straight win.

Chicago hasn’t won a World Series in a century, and truly significant wins in that time have been rare, but the current Cubs had fun being a part of this one.

“It was a tough first 10,000 wins,” Theriot said with a chuckle. “I hope the next 10,000 are easier.”

“Really, I didn’t remember a lot about the first 9,000,” cracked Kerry Wood, who got what Theriot termed “a cool benchmark” win as the Cubs improved to 15-6 for just the fourth time in the last 100 years.

Both teams blew ninth-inning leads with their closers, but it was the Rockies who ended up losing their fourth straight game when leading after seven innings.

Theriot’s single to right field scored pinch-runner Mike Fontenot from second base as the Cubs joined the Giants as the only franchises in major league history to reach 10,000 wins.

Carlos Marmol pitched a perfect the 10th for his second save in as many chances.

Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run homer off struggling Colorado closer Manny Corpas with one out in the ninth to put the Cubs ahead 6-5, but Ryan Spilborghs tripled home the tying run off Wood with two outs in the bottom half.

Wood (2-0) struck out Clint Barmes to strand the winning run at third, then picked up the win when the Cubs rallied off Wells (1-1).

“We’ve been picking each other up all year,” Wood said. “That’s why we are in the position we’re in. It’s somebody different every night. … I don’t think we could predict the way we were going to be swinging the bats right now. I don’t think we have more than one guy in the lineup hitting under .300.”

And that’s Ramirez, who went 2-for-5 to raise his average to .287.

Corpas blew his second straight save and fourth in eight chances just hours after his manager gave him a vote of confidence. Last year, he converted 19-of-20 saves, then signed a big contract over the winter.

Clint Hurdle might be pondering a switch now, but he wasn’t ready to reveal anything just yet.

“I’ll talk to the player first,” he said. “I need to think things through, talk to the people I need to talk to, have a conversation, and when we make a decision we’ll let you guys know right away.”

The Rockies have a proven alternative in $5 million set-up man Brian Fuentes, who lost his closer job to Corpas last summer when he blew four straight saves just after he was voted to his third straight All-Star Game.

Asked about the possibility of losing his job, Corpas said it’s up to the manager, that he’s just in a funk and has no faith in his slider, which is what he left up and over the plate to Ramirez when he was trying to get him to chase a pitch off the plate.

Before the game, Hurdle was adamant he wasn’t going to juggle his bullpen like he did his infield a night earlier, when slumping shortstop Troy Tulowitzki didn’t start.

Tulowitzki returned to the lineup Wednesday night but was moved from second in the batting order to seventh. He broke out of a 1-for-19 slump with a three-run homer that capped a five-run rally and erased Chicago’s 3-0 lead in the sixth.

“I definitely took some better swings tonight. We came out on the losing end, that’s the main thing. It’s still bothersome,” Tulowitzki said.

Barmes homered off starter Rich Hill leading off the sixth, and Michael Wuertz came in after Hill walked the next batter. Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins hit back-to-back singles off Wuertz, making it 3-2.

One out later, Jon Lieber came in to face Tulowitzki. With the crowd chanting “Tulo!” the slumping shortstop sent a 1-1 slider over the left-field wall for his first homer of the season.

The Cubs pulled to 5-4 in the seventh when Taylor Buchholz surrendered an RBI single to Ramirez.

The Cubs took a 3-0 lead on Mark DeRosa’s sacrifice fly, Geovany Soto’s solo homer and Ramirez’s RBI double, all off Franklin Morales, who allowed three earned runs on eight hits in six innings.

Hill surrendered two earned runs on three hits in five innings.

“It’s obviously tough any time you lose leads late,” Tulowitzki said. “It makes it extra tough. I remember we went through a stretch last year where we did the same kind of thing and ended up all right. At least we know we can still be OK.”

A day after Ronny Cedeno told reporters the Chicago Cubs are “thinking about the World Series,” he recanted.

“I’m going to take it back,” Cedeno said. “I go too fast.”

Cedeno swung as if he wants to help the Cubs get there, hitting a grand slam and driving in five runs in surging Chicago’s 8-1 win over the New York Mets on Tuesday for its 13th victory in 16 games.

Ted Lilly won for the first time in five starts, helping the Cubs to their best start over 20 games since the days of Don Kessinger and Rick Reuschel.

The Cubs, who a season ago started 7-13, had 14 hits and improved to 14-6, their best record at this point since 1975.

Cedeno, who almost was cut at the end of spring training, has started the past two games with Ryan Theriot, the usual shortstop, out because of back pain.

Cedeno drove in Chicago’s first run in a three-run fourth, then hit his first career grand slam in the eighth against Jorge Sosa for a 7-1 lead. Cedeno, who has 10 RBIs in his past four games, also had a key hit in Monday night’s win — which led to the giddy talk of a World Series, something the Cubs have not won in 100 years.

Ronny Cedeno found out 30 minutes before the first pitch he’d be starting instead of sitting. Felix Pie, who has spent more time in the batting cage than on the field recently, entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth.

After Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez helped the Cubs take a precarious one-run lead after seven innings, it was reserves Cedeno and Pie who sparked a five-run eighth as Chicago beat the New York Mets 7-1 on Monday night.

Cedeno started a key double play in the sixth and had a two-out, bases-loaded single in the eighth off reliever Aaron Heilman. Light-hitting Pie followed with a three-run homer off Jorge Sosa to ice Chicago’s 12th win in 15 games.

“I was not supposed to play today, but after they told me I put myself mentally in the game,” said Cedeno, who played when starting shortstop Ryan Theriot was a late scratch with a sore back.

“I’m so happy for Felix.”

Pie, who was batting .143 entering the game, has been spending most of his time restructuring his batting stroke with manager Lou Piniella offering advice. The Cubs even called in minor league hitting instructor Dave Keller on Monday to work with him.

“In my mind, I remember Lou telling me to go through with the front foot,” Pie said. “One swing, but tomorrow I’m going to start and I’ll see tomorrow. This is a good feeling, something in my life I’ll never forget.”

Zambrano (3-1) allowed five hits and a run with two walks and four strikeouts. Chicago’s ace was backed by four double plays, including one in the sixth started by Cedeno against Jose Reyes that doused a big inning for the Mets.

Reyes later made an error to start the five-run Cubs’ eighth inning in what turned into a tough night.

“It’s never easy to hit against Zambrano,” said Reyes, who offered no excuse on the error. “The ball just came out of my glove. The play was right there. It should have been an easy out. It’s a routine ground ball.”

With the Cubs leading 2-0 in the sixth, New York’s Endy Chavez hit a leadoff double and easily made third when Maine bunted and Cubs catcher Geovany Soto threw late to third, putting runners at the corners with no outs

But Reyes grounded to Cedeno, who stepped on the bag and was able to barely double up the speedy Reyes with his throw to first as New York’s first run scored. Luis Castillo then beat out an infield single and stole second, and David Wright walked before Zambrano got Carlos Beltran on a fly to left.

Reyes fumbled Lee’s grounder to the start the bottom of the eighth. Heilman hit Ramirez with a pitch and Kosuke Fukudome singled to cap a 10-pitch at-bat and load the bases. Mark DeRosa struck out and Soto popped up, but Cedeno delivered a single up the middle on a 1-2 pitch before Pie homered.

“One pitch away from getting out of the inning. Unfortunately, I didn’t make that pitch,” Heilman said. “He (Cedeno) kept fouling off good pitches and then I made a mistake.”

Ramirez, who raised his average Sunday from .234 to .275 with four hits, homered to left-center after Lee led off the fourth with a single off John Maine (1-2). Ramirez, who has five homers, has reached base in all 19 of the Cubs’ games.

Carlos Marmol pitched the eighth and Kerry Wood the ninth for the Cubs.

Maine gave up five hits and two runs in six innings with two walks and a season-high six strikeouts. Zambrano improved to 4-1 against the Mets, while Maine dropped to 0-3 in his career against the Cubs

For one brief moment, a smile crossed Aramis Ramirez’s face when he learned the Chicago Cubs took the lead in the National League Central. Then, it disappeared.

The Cubs know how drastically fortunes can change, so they weren’t about to jump for joy over moving into first place on Sunday.

Ramirez tied a career high with four hits, including a two-run homer, in a 13-6 victory over Pittsburgh that gave Chicago its second three-game sweep of the Pirates this season.

Then, he had a question: “Did St. Louis win today?”

No, the Cardinals lost to San Francisco, so the Cubs took a half-game lead in the Central. Ramirez let out a smile and then it was gone.

“We still got, what, 150 games to go?” he said.

Actually, they have 144. But if Ramirez wants to prolong this season, well, so do the rest of his teammates

Chicago got big days from Ramirez and Ryan Theriot and won for the 11th time in 14 games. Theriot had four hits, scored three runs and drove in two. With Saturday’s 13-1 drubbing, this was the first time the Cubs scored 13 or more in back-to-back games since they did it against Florida and Atlanta on July 20-21, 2003.

Chicago banged out a season-high 18 hits, the most since it had 20 against Cincinnati last August 16, while sending Pittsburgh to its fifth straight loss. The win was Chicago’s ninth straight against the Pirates, matching the Cubs’ longest win streak against them since Sept. 5, 1938 to May 13, 1939.

“It feels great to be in first place,” starter Ryan Dempster said. “Now, the tough part is trying to stay there.”

Dempster (3-0) wasn’t feeling great after Pittsburgh scored three runs in the fifth to cut it to 5-3, but Chicago responded with five in the bottom half against reliever Franquelis Osoria. The Pirates committed two errors in the inning, and Ramirez capped the outburst with his fourth homer.

The four-hit game was Ramirez’s 18th and his first since Sept. 27 at Florida.

“I felt pretty good,” said Ramirez, who raised his average from .234 to .275. “I can’t say I’m right where I want to be because I only had (one) good day.”

At 12-6, the Cubs matched their best 18-game start since 2004. One reason is their patience at the plate. The Cubs walked seven times on Sunday after drawing 10 the previous day.

“We figure we should score runs,” Lee said. “We feel like this is what we’re capable of.”

Theriot is playing a big part, with a .338 average.

He singled in a run in the first to extend his hitting streak to seven and was 4-for-5. He doubled and scored in the third, and added an RBI double and scored again in the fourth to help Chicago build a 5-0 lead.

That was enough for Dempster, who was lifted for a pinch hitter in the fifth. He allowed five hits, walked two, struck out three and hit a batter in his shortest outing of the year.

It was a rough outing for Pittsburgh’s Zach Duke (0-1), who was 4-2 with a 2.01 ERA in nine previous starts against Chicago. This time, he allowed five runs and eight hits in four innings and his ERA climbed from 2.89 to 4.37. He walked two and hit two batters. Only 36 of his 69 pitches were strikes.

“You can’t overanalyze it too much,” he said. “You can get into a big downward spiral if you let yourself do that. I’m going to take this one for what it is and bounce back next time.”

The Cubs scratched Kosuke Fukudome from their lineup because of a small cyst above his right eye—a condition that manager Lou Piniella said is not serious while calling it “only a one-day thing.”

Once the Baltimore Orioles got two runs in the ninth inning off Bobby Jenks to force extra innings, they figured might as well take their improbable comeback to the next level.

“Once we got into extra innings, we said, ‘Why not just win this thing?”’ said Adam Jones, who helped them do just that.

Jones singled in the game-winning run in the 10th inning, giving the Orioles a 6-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night.

Baltimore trailed 5-2 in the eighth before rallying to split the two-game series.

After scoring their third unearned run to close to 5-3, the Orioles had to go up against Jenks, who entered in the ninth looking to go 7-for-7 in save situations. Brian Roberts got Baltimore within a run with a two-out RBI double, and Melvin Mora grounded a 3-2 pitch up the middle to tie it.

Of Jenks’ 13 career blown saves, three have come at Camden Yards.

“When we tied the game, we knew we were going to win,” Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. “That’s just the feeling that was in that dugout.”

Kevin Millar led off the 10th with a walk from Boone Logan (1-1) and advanced on a walk to Luke Scott. After Aubrey Huff hit a fly to left, Jones hit a liner inside the left-field line that scored Millar without a throw.

“The best thing we have had so far is our bullpen, and they didn’t get it done tonight,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said.

Jenks wouldn’t talk after the game, but Logan said, “We’re not perfect. Bobby, no matter how good he is, isn’t going to have 100 percent every night. What happened, happened. Then I came in and they kept hitting, but the walks didn’t help.”

Nick Markakis homered for the Orioles, whose only lead in the series came when Millar crossed the plate. George Sherrill (1-0) pitched the 10th to earn the win.

Carlos Quentin hit two homers and Joe Crede also connected for Chicago, now 9-1 when leading after eight innings.

After the Orioles drew even with two unearned runs in the sixth, Quentin and Crede connected on successive pitches from Jeremy Guthrie to put Chicago up 4-2. Quentin’s homer ended a 3-for-25 skid, and Crede’s drive upped his RBI total to 18.

Quentin added a solo shot off Dennis Sarfate in the eighth. It was the second two-homer game of his career; the other came last May for Arizona against Colorado.

Chicago starter Gavin Floyd, who went to high school in Baltimore, pitched six innings of two-hit ball in a memorable homecoming. He struck out four, walked two and lowered his ERA to 1.40.

“It was fun pitching here. I grew up watching the Orioles, so to pitch here was special,” Floyd said.

In his last start, the right-hander held Detroit hitless through 7 1-3 innings. In this one, Floyd retired the first 12 batters before Millar bounced a single off the glove of Crede at third base.

That was Baltimore’s lone hit until Markakis homered with a man on in the sixth. Both runs were unearned, because the inning began with Luis Hernandez reaching on an error by first baseman Paul Konerko.

The Orioles’ third run was also tainted. After the 100-game errorless streak of White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski ended with an errant throw in the eighth, Scott hit an RBI double.

Pierzynski also went 0-for-5, snapping his bat over his knee after a foul out in the 10th.

Derrek Lee already has as many homers in the first month of this season as he did in the entire first half a year ago.

Lee’s early surge continued Wednesday night as he and Carlos Zambrano carried the Cubs to a 12-3 victory over slumping Cincinnati—the Reds’ fifth straight loss under former Chicago manager Dusty Baker.

Lee homered among his three hits and Zambrano also went 3-for-4 while pitching seven strong innings. The Cubs jumped out early with 10 runs by the third inning and made it easy for their ace.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella knows how much Zambrano enjoys hitting—he’s been used as a pinch-hitter occasionally—and had teased the big right-hander about his slow start, telling him he was a batting practice hitter.

“Lou was telling me, `When are you going to get a hit this year?”’ said Zambrano, who was 0-for-8 entering Wednesday’s game after batting .247 last season.

“I said, `I don’t know.’ I was hitting .000 before the game and now I’m hitting .250.”

Lee raised his average to .393 and after hitting only 22 homers last season, he’s already connected for six—the same number he had before the All-Star break a year ago.

“We got contributions throughout the lineup, especially our third hitter. He’s really in a nice groove,” Piniella said. “He’s zoned in. The ball just jumps off his bat.”

The Cubs scored four runs in the first and six in the third to give Zambrano an early cushion on another blustery night at Wrigley Field with the wind gusting out at 20 mph.

Zambrano (2-1) allowed eight hits and two runs. Chicago, meanwhile, hit Josh Fogg (1-2) hard. He gave up seven hits and was charged with nine runs in two-plus innings.

“When you give Big Z a 10-run lead by the third, you might catch up but your odds aren’t real good,” Baker said. “We didn’t get to use that wind out there. They hit us around the ballpark pretty good.”

Fogg said the wind was difficult but that’s not necessarily why he pitched so poorly.

“It’s a factor. For me today it wasn’t a very big factor because I didn’t pitch very well, so it didn’t matter,” he said. “Zambrano did a pretty good job pitching in it, so it’s not like it was impossible. You just have to make quality pitches and I wasn’t able to do that.”

Adam Dunn did homer for the Reds, off reliever Kevin Hart in the eighth. That’s when fans at Wrigley Field not only threw one ball back—as is a tradition after an opponent’s homer—they littered the field with 15 baseballs, momentarily halting play.

“I was surprised. I didn’t know that many people hit a home run today,” Cubs right fielder Kosuke Fukudome said through a translator.

Chicago didn’t miss leadoff hitter Alfonso Soriano, who went on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a strained right calf, an injury he sustained in the first inning of Tuesday night’s 9-5 win when he caught a fly ball.

Bases-loaded doubles by Fukudome in the first and Geovany Soto in the third were key hits Wednesday night. Zambrano had the third three-hit game of his career—two singles and a double—and an RBI.

Lee’s solo shot started the six-run third.

Fogg then loaded the bases for the second time in three innings as the Cubs had two walks and a single before Soto delivered a two-run double for a 7-1 lead. Reed Johnson greeted reliever Mike Lincoln with a sacrifice fly, Zambrano had an RBI single and a sixth run scored on a wild pitch.

In the first, Fogg gave up a double to Ryan Theriot and a single to Lee before hitting Aramis Ramirez with a pitch to load the bases. Fukudome doubled past first for a 2-0 lead and Mark DeRosa followed with another two-run double.

The Reds had a big inning working in the top of the second when Dunn walked with one out and Edwin Encarnacion blooped a single to left. Joey Votto then hit a high, wind-blown fly to left that DeRosa—playing in place of Soriano— misjudged. The ball hit the warning track and went for a ground-rule RBI double.

But with runners at second and third, Zambrano grabbed Javier Valentin’s hard comebacker and was able to catch Encarnacion off third. He was tagged out in a rundown. Cubs shortstop Theriot then saved another run by going behind second on a high bouncer by Fogg to throw him out and end the inning.

Jeff Keppinger doubled in a run in the seventh for the Reds.

One of Dusty Baker’s first questions as he got ready to manage again at Wrigley Field was this: Which way is the wind blowing?

After four years as manager of the Cubs, Baker knows how it can affect the game.

“The first thing you do when you get here, you check the wind,” he said.

It was blowing out Tuesday, and the Chicago Cubs hit three homers to beat their former manager and his Cincinnati Reds 9-5 on a blustery night.

Baker got the Cubs within five outs of the World Series five years ago, but after a last-place finish in 2006, his contract was not renewed.

He got an earful from the crowd at Wrigley Field that booed him loudly when he changed pitchers in the seventh and eighth innings. It was something he expected.

“Sooner or later you’re going to get booed. So, what the heck?” he said before the game.

The win might have come with a price for the Cubs. Leadoff hitter Alfonso Soriano never came to bat after hurting his right calf when he used his unique hop to catch Ken Griffey’s first-inning fly ball.

It was initially called a strain, but Soriano was having an MRI on Tuesday night and manager Lou Piniella said he didn’t know how long his star will be out.

“It’ll probably be a while,” Piniella said. “If he’s out an extended period, it will hurt us.”

Lee’s fifth homer of the season—and fifth of his career against the Reds’ Aaron Harang—was a long drive to left-center on a night with the wind blowing out at 19 mph and gusts up to 26 mph. Mark DeRosa and Ryan Theriot also connected for the Cubs.

“We talked about it today in batting practice. There were not too many balls left today when we got done,” said DeRosa, who moved from second base to left field to replace Soriano. “All you had to do was get it up in the air.”

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 595th homer, and Joey Votto added a solo shot in the ninth for the Reds, who lost their fourth straight.

“With the wind blowing out you try to minimize the damage as much as you can,” winning pitcher Ryan Dempster said.

Harang (1-2) took his first career loss at Wrigley Field, where he was 4-0 in eight previous appearances. Harang gave up eight hits and five runs in six innings and fell to 8-4 lifetime against the Cubs.

“It was tough to get loose. It was one of those days where you go out there and you just don’t have it,” Harang said. “You get out there and it’s cold, your nose gets running.”

Closer-turned-starter Dempster (2-0) gave up five hits and four runs in six-plus innings. He left during the seventh when the Reds loaded the bases with no outs but scored only one run, thanks to stellar defensive plays by Fontenot at second and Lee at first.

The Reds grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second when Dempster walked Brandon Phillips and Adam Dunn before Edwin Encarnacion, batting only .179, lined an RBI single over DeRosa’s head in left. DeRosa had moved to left from second when Fontenot replaced Soriano in the order.

The Cubs went ahead in the bottom half as Kosuke Fukudome singled and DeRosa homered to left.

Griffey’s homer was a two-run shot to center off Dempster and it gave the Reds a 3-2 lead in the third. The Reds’ star is sixth on the career list. No. 5 is Sammy Sosa with 609.

The Reds had a big inning brewing in the seventh after Paul Bako singled and pinch-hitter Scott Hatteberg walked to finish Dempster. Reliever Carlos Marmol fielded Corey Patterson’s bunt and threw high and late to second, a fielder’s choice that loaded the bases with no outs.

But Fontenot made a great diving stab behind second on Jeff Keppinger’s grounder up the middle, flipping to shortstop Theriot covering for the forceout as a run scored. Lee then grabbed Griffey’s hard grounder and started a 3-6-3 double play.

“D-Lee made a great play on that double play to stop the game from being tied,” Baker said.

The Cubs made it 7-4 in the bottom half when Lee singled, Aramis Ramirez hit an RBI double and DeRosa a run-scoring single off reliever Jared Burton. Theriot hit a two-run shot, his first of the season, off Todd Coffey in the eighth