You won’t find Carlos Quentin’s name on an All-Star ballot, but he’s right where he belongs in the middle of a first-place lineup.

The White Sox weren’t positive their new outfielder would even make the roster out of spring training because of a bum shoulder, yet the Arizona castoff is turning his surprise start into a starring role.

Quentin hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and Chicago beat the Cleveland Indians 3-1 Thursday night for its eighth straight victory.

“That’s the reason he’s batting third,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said.

Quentin had two RBIs, giving him 40 this season, and Jermaine Dye added a run-scoring single in the eighth to finish off a three-game sweep of the punchless Indians, who have scored only 13 runs during their six-game losing streak.

“It’s fun today,” Guillen said. “But I take it one day at a time. You can’t get too high, you can’t get low. We’ve got a good thing going. When you have a run like this you can’t wait to get back to the ballpark.”

The Indians, 4 1/2 games behind AL Central-leading Chicago, return home after a winless road trip and in a profound hitting slump. They had just two hits: Grady Sizemore’s RBI double in the third and Ben Francisco’s bunt single in the sixth.

“You can’t give into it,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said of the team’s slugging woes. “I know the results aren’t there. I’m not happy about it. They’re not happy about it. But you’ve got to keep fighting.”

Scott Linebrink (1-0) got the win, striking out two in the eighth. Bobby Jenks pitched the ninth for his 12th save for the White Sox, who own a 3 1/2 -game lead over second-place Minnesota.

White Sox starter Mark Buehrle didn’t get a decision, but pitched one of his best games of the season, allowing one run and two hits with four walks in seven innings. Buehrle had been struggling, but has given up just two runs in his last 13 2-3 innings.

“Any starting pitcher wants to win,” Buehrle said. “But I’ve always said I can go 0-0 and if they win all my starts we’ll be in the right place at the end of the year.”

Jermaine Dye watched A.J Pierzynski go hard into second base to help break up a double play. Dye then delivered big shot of his own.

Dye hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning, and added solo shot in the seventh, and the Chicago White Sox won their seventh straight game with a 7-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night.

Michael Aubrey hit a solo home run in the second inning for the Indians, who have lost a season-high five straight games.

With a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning, Indians starter Paul Byrd (2-4) allowed a leadoff single to Orlando Cabrera and walked Pierzynski.

Carlos Quentin followed with a sharp grounder to third baseman Casey Blake. Blake started what could have been a 5-4-3 double play, but Pierzynski slid hard at second, putting pressure on second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera.

Cabrera got off an accurate throw, but first base umpire Paul Schrieber called Quentin safe. After Indians manager Eric Wedge argued the call, Dye hit a 2-1 pitch into the left field seats, putting the White Sox ahead.

“You can’t teach hustle. No matter if you’re hitting good or you’re struggling you can still go out and hustle. Certain plays are the key in the ballgame,” said Dye. “It definitely was a big play. Anytime you break up a double play with the middle of the lineup coming up, you never know what can happen.”

Byrd saw the play differently.

“Instead of letting Jermaine Dye hit a sacrifice fly or making my pitch, I tried to strike him out,” said Byrd. “The play definitely changed the game but I can’t cry about it or blame anybody else. The umpire made a mistake but I have to adapt and overcome that and make the pitch.”

Javier Vazquez (5-3) overpowered a struggling Indians lineup with seven strikeouts in seven innings. He allowed two runs on four hits and ended his outing by striking out Jhonny Peralta.

“He seemed to get better as the game was going on. He didn’t have a real good breaking ball tonight, but he battled through it,” Pierzynski said.

 Suddenly, a coaching search isn’t the only big decision facing the Chicago Bulls.

Now they have to figure out what to do with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

The Bulls were the surprise winners of the draft lottery Tuesday night, giving them the right to choose between Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose.

Hiring a new coach and deciding what to do in free agency already figured to take up plenty of general manager John Paxson’s time. He never figured one of college basketball’s stud freshmen could land in his lap.

“I try to stay realistic through all these things for the odds,” Paxson said on a conference call. “Tonight for some reason that ball popped up for us and we were there. Now it’s my job to make the most of it.”

Coming off a miserable season and still without a coach, the Bulls vaulted from the No. 9 spot, where they had a 1.7 percent chance of landing the top choice

“After this season, we needed a break and I think we just got one tonight,” said Steve Schanwald, the Bulls’ executive vice president of business operations who represented them on the podium.

Chicago will almost certainly choose between Beasley, the Kansas State forward who averaged 26.2 points and an NCAA-best 12.4 rebounds, or Rose, the point guard who carried Memphis within minutes of the national title.

“We’ll have an opportunity to get close to those guys. We’ll really take a long look at what makes the most sense for our basketball team,” Paxson said. “Having the pick puts you in a unique position to make your team better.”

The Miami Heat, who had a 25 percent chance of landing the top pick thanks to their NBA-worst 15-67 record, fell to second. The Minnesota Timberwolves will go third.

The Seattle SuperSonics, who moved up to No. 2 last year to pick Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant, fell from second to fourth. Memphis will pick fifth, followed by New York, the Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee, Charlotte and New Jersey.

Indiana has the 11th pick, followed by Sacramento, Portland and Golden State. The lottery settled the top three spots. The remainder of the first 14 picks are determined inverse order of their record.

The NBA draft will be held June 26 in New York.

Chicago came into the season with high expectations after reaching the Eastern Conference semifinals last season. But the Bulls never recovered from a dismal start and finished 33-49. They fired coach Scott Skiles on Christmas Eve and have already decided not to retain interim coach Jim Boylan.

The Bulls failed to land the coach they wanted, Mike D’Antoni, but the position became much more appealing Tuesday, giving them a chance to draft first for only the second time. The Bulls, who took Elton Brand No. 1 in 1999, could turn this time to hometown star Rose, who D’Antoni said was like Jason Kidd with a jump shot.

“Everybody was picking us to go to the conference finals last year, actually to the NBA finals because we won 49 games the year before and pushed the Detroit Pistons to six games in the second round last year and we have a very exciting good corps of young players, and we added Joakim Noah to that mix,” Schanwald said. “Now we will get a chance to add another great player, a really great player. So it is very exciting for us.”

Schanwald gave a fist pump early on when he realized he would move up, then took a deep breath and pumped both fists after beating out the Heat, represented by All-Star guard Dwyane Wade.

Only twice have teams with the worst record won the lottery since the current format began in 1994. Though the lottery is weighted to give teams with the poorest records the best chance to win, the longshots keep finding a way.

Last year, Portland and Seattle moved up to grab the top spots, taking Greg Oden and Durant. Again, two star freshmen are the top prizes.

“Obviously the lottery as a precursor to the draft is a time of great hope,” commissioner David Stern said.

The Bulls already had a busy offseason planned. Besides hiring a coach, they have to make contract offers to restricted free agents Luol Deng and Ben Gordon.

Now they’ve got another decision: Beasley or Rose?

“As I sit here tonight, what I think is again you’ve got two players who are different and unique,” Paxson said. “One is point guard. The point guard is a natural leadership position on a team. It’s something every team covets. And the other … just has the unique ability to put the ball in the basket, just will be a go-to scorer.

“I’m certainly not going to throw myself into this thing and do something quickly.”

Nor will the Heat. President Pat Riley likes both players, but implied the pick could even be traded.

“Based on their performance and what they did in one season, both of them showed that they can help their team win,” Riley said. “Both showed enough physical maturity to be dominant at times as a 19-year-old. All of the intangibles when it comes to competitive desire and when it comes to leadership and character and all of those things, we still have a lot of work to do in terms of a lot of players in the draft.”

The Bulls’ surprising victory should quickly restore interest in the underachieving team. Interviewed immediately following the result, Schanwald read the number for callers to buy season tickets.

“I thought it was a waste of time. I thought coming here was an absolute waste of time. I knew I would get a great meal out of it, but I thought it was a waste of time,” Schanwald said of the Bulls’ chances.

“I’m on top of the world. I feel great. It’s the most exciting day of my life,” he added

Geovany Soto didn’t get the automatic home run he deserved. Cubs manager Lou Piniella thinks he probably likes it that way.

Soto was credited with an inside-the-park three-run homer in the fourth inning despite replays showing that it should have been an automatic home run in Chicago’s 7-2 win over Houston on Monday night.

The ball bounced just to the right of the yellow line on the wall in left-center field.

“It was a home run, but I think he’d probably rather have the inside-the-park home run anyway,” Piniella said.

Astros center fielder Michael Bourn scooped it up and threw it home, but Soto scored easily before the throw got there.

“Never in my whole life had I had an inside-the-park home run,” Soto said. “I didn’t think it was out. It’s so big that left-center area I didn’t think I hit it over it. I thought double, maybe triple if they misplayed it.”

Ted Lilly has located his strikeout pitch, and Alfonso Soriano has found his batting eye and power.

It was a strong combination Wednesday night, one that led the Chicago Cubs over the San Diego Padres 8-5.

Lilly fanned 11 in six innings to get his third straight win and Soriano had his second leadoff homer in as many nights.

“I don’t think I just stand out there and try to throw fastballs by guys,” said Lilly, who has consecutive double-digit strikeout games for the first time in his career.

“I have to mix my pitches and change speeds and locate the ball and things like that,” he said. “And at times, when I got my curveball going, I’m going to get some strikeouts on it. But I’m not going to say I’m a power pitcher.”

Backed by three RBIs apiece from Soriano and Geovany Soto, who also homered, Lilly (4-4) allowed four runs and six hits in six innings. After striking out 10 against Arizona in his previous start, he fanned eight in the first four innings. He left after throwing 102 pitches on a 46-degree night.

Cubs pitchers combined to strike out 15 against the Padres, whose 308 strikeouts are second in the major leagues behind Florida’s 326.

Soriano, who has three homers in as many games, is 10-for-19 over the last five games after a slow start that included a trip to the disabled list. He also had a key two-run single in the second inning after a wild pitch by Jake Peavy on a third strike to Lilly allowed the pitcher to reach. The single gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

“I feel great. I’m swinging the bat really well,” said Soriano, who was booed early in the 10-game homestand. “That’s part of the game. It motivates me to try to make myself a better player.”

Peavy (4-3) needed 87 pitches to make it through four innings. He gave up four runs and seven hits, struck out eight and walked two.

The wild pitch was costly.

“It would have been a different game. I still had the chance to make some pitches to Soriano there,” Peavy said. “I’d much rather get Ted Lilly out there than have to face Soriano, but I didn’t. I have to make better pitches. I’m obviously just frustrated. I have to do better than that. Having to get pulled after four is embarrassing.”

Carlos Quentin did what he does every day—checked the lineup card to see if he was playing. This time, he was batting third for the first time this season.

Quentin made White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen look smart when he broke an eighth-inning tie with his first career grand slam in Chicago’s 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night.

He also matched his career high with five RBIs and helped spoil John Lackey’s long-awaited return to the Angels’ rotation.

A.J. Pierzynski hit second—one of five players who batted in an unfamiliar slot for the first time this season. The others were Jim Thome (fifth), Paul Konerko (sixth) and Nick Swisher (eighth). Thome came in hitting .209, Konerko .213 and Swisher .206.

“You hit where you hit and you move on. I mean, you can’t really try to over think it,” Pierzynski said. “The two hole is probably the highest I’ve ever hit. It’s something different. Ozzie shook it up and it worked, so I’m sure we’ll probably have the same one tomorrow.”

Jered Weaver looked nothing like a pitcher who had a 7.02 ERA over his previous six starts.

Weaver allowed one hit over seven innings, combining with two relievers on a three-hitter, and Mike Napoli hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night.

“I just went out there and tried to pitch like the old Jered, and it came out all right,” Weaver said. “It was just adjustments with mechanics in the bullpen between starts. Me and (pitching coach Mike) Butcher were able to clean some stuff up.

“The arm strength’s coming along,” he added. “The more innings I get, the better my arm strength is going to get. That’s the way it’s always been. I always seem to get stronger as the season went along. I guess the six days rest kind of helped, too.”

Manager Mike Scioscia couldn’t have been more pleased with the right-hander’s dramatic turnaround.

“That’s the best stuff Jered’s had in two years,” Scioscia said. “He maintained it and he finished strong. His pitch count got a little high, but the last couple of innings he regrouped and finished hitters off better. You can’t throw the ball much better than Weave did tonight. It’s very encouraging.”

A.J. Pierzynski’s leadoff single in the fifth was the only hit off Weaver, who pitched seven innings. He struck out six and walked one, coming out of the game after 109 pitches. He came in 1-4 since pitching seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball in a 2-1 win over Texas on April 5.

“He just missed our bats,” Jermaine Dye said. “I mean, he threw a lot of breaking pitches, a lot of changeups in hitter’s counts, and was able to get ground balls and flyballs.”

Chicago starter John Danks had a hard-luck no-decision, although he had to work hard for it. Pitching against the Angels for the first time in his career, he scattered seven hits and two walks over 6 1-3 innings, struck out five and never retired the side in order.

Danks departed with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh after walking Gary Matthews Jr. with his 99th and final pitch. Octavio Dotel struck out Erick Aybar and Vladimir Guerrero to escape the jam.

But Dotel (1-2) gave up a leadoff single in the eighth to Torii Hunter, who took third when Garret Anderson got the green light on a 3-0 pitch from Matt Thornton and singled to right field. Napoli’s delivered Hunter with a flyout to center, with Anderson alertly tagging up, and Robb Quinlan drove in the second run with a two-out single against Scott Linebrink.

Scot Shields (2-0) pitched one inning for the win and Francisco Rodriguez got three outs for his major league-leading 16th save.

The Angels stranded a runner in scoring position in four of the first five innings. Hunter grounded out with a man on third base to end the first, Guerrero hit into a double play to end the third, Casey Kotchman flied out to end the fourth, and Aybar grounded out to end the fifth.

“We left way too many runners in scoring position,” Scioscia said. “We stranded a lot of guys and were 1-for-12 with guys in scoring position. So it was a night we needed to pitch well, and we did. We scratched out a couple of runs late and held on.”

Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen flip-flopped Paul Konerko and Dye in his lineup, dropping the slumping Konerko to fifth and putting Dye in the cleanup spot for the fourth time this season following his four-hit performance on Monday night. But they didn’t get a runner past first base until Carlos Quentin doubled off the center fence with one out in the ninth.

“We haven’t been scoring too many runs lately, but our pitchers have been going out there and giving us a chance,” Dye said. “We just have to try and bear down a little bit more and get some runs across for them early.”

Carlos Zambrano switched to longer sleeves after three innings, not so much to combat the cold—as would be expected—but to cover a scab on his pitching arm.

Big Z was plenty ready for the elements on a 41-degree night in mid-May and showed his sense of humor Monday night after pitching and batting the Chicago Cubs to a 12-3 win over the San Diego Padres.

“It’s OK for me. I’m from Alaska,” Zambrano said, drawing laughs at his postgame news conference.

“No, it’s tough man, especially for me. I’m from South America, Venezuela. It is not this cold. Not even close,” he said.

“As a starting pitcher … don’t worry about the cold factor, just try to hit your spots and try to do the best you can to keep the inning quick.”

But the Cubs made sure the Padres couldn’t get off the field soon enough, scoring six runs in the fifth—started by Zambrano’s double—and adding five more in the sixth, when he added a single. They had 13 hits and made the most of nine walks issued by the Padres.

Pitching with an extra day’s rest after his start Sunday was scratched because of rainy conditions, Zambrano (6-1) allowed six hits and three runs in seven innings. And he was part of a batting order that was on base all night.

“I think we have a very good lineup, very balanced,” said Alfonso Soriano, who homered in the fifth and is 7-for-14 during the Cubs’ four-game winning streak. “Be more aggressive and, at the same time, selective at home plate. That’s what I try to do because I know when I swing at a strike, I know that I hit the ball very hard.”

The Cubs’ first eight batters reached in the fifth on six hits and two walks. Randy Wolf (2-3) didn’t retire a batter in the inning and in four-plus innings, he gave up eight hits, seven runs and five walks.

“In the fifth inning, there is really no way to candy coat it,” Wolf said. “I was bad. I didn’t make the pitches I needed to. They capitalized on it. You get behind and you don’t locate. Those are two recipes for something bad to happen.”

Jody Gerut’s first homer in nearly three years gave the Padres a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth, but the Cubs quickly responded.

Zambrano drove a ball off the wall in right-center for a leadoff double and Soriano followed with a drive to left-center that just cleared the fence for his fourth homer, putting Chicago up 3-2.

Ryan Theriot walked, Derrek Lee singled and Aramis Ramirez had an RBI single before Kosuke Fukudome worked a walk to load the bases. Geovany Soto’s two-run single through the middle made it 6-2 and finished Wolf. Mark DeRosa then greeted reliever Sean Henn with an RBI single.

“He couldn’t make a pitch to get himself out of it,” Padres manager Bud Black said of Wolf.

In the sixth, the Cubs batted around again. They loaded the bases for the third time in the game on Soriano’s double and walks to Theriot and Ramirez before Fukudome drew his third walk of the game to force in a run.

It got worse for the Padres, who have the worst record in the majors at 14-25.

When DeRosa hit a grounder to third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, he tried to race to the bag for a force, but Ramirez beat him there. Kouzmanoff then threw wildly to first for an error and three runs ended up scoring on the play as the Cubs went up 11-2. Reed Johnson later added an RBI single.

Fukudome’s three walks were a big part of the Cubs’ offense.

“The guy knows how to play baseball,” Zambrano said. “He came to the U.S. ready to play. One thing I see in Fukudome is he can handle it with all the media and all the fans.”

Lee’s double into the right-field corner scored Theriot, who singled, in the first to put the Cubs ahead 1-0. Tadahito Iguchi hit an RBI single in the third to tie it.

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.

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.”