Sosa pleased with Baker's late strategy

CHICAGO (AP) -- Cubs manager Dusty Baker is already making his

presence felt from the bench.

Corey Patterson hit an RBI single and pinch-hitter Troy O'Leary

had a sacrifice fly as Chicago rallied in the eighth inning to beat

the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 Sunday.

The Cubs trailed 3-2 going into the eighth, but wound up scoring

twice after a series of moves by both managers.

Sammy Sosa led off the Cubs eighth with a double against

Boehringer. One out later, Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon pulled

Boehringer (0-1) after he had a 2-0 count to Hee Seop Choi.

Lefty Scott Sauerbeck relieved, and Baker sent up Eric Karros to

bat for Choi. After Karros was intentionally walked, Patterson

singled up the middle to tie it at 3.

Sosa liked Baker's strategy in the eighth.

"That was a great move right there, he made the right

decision,'' said Sosa. "Everything worked the way he wanted it

to.''

McClendon defended his move on pulling Boehringer and

intentionally walking Karros.

"We did what we wanted to do with the walk. We got the matchups

we wanted,'' McClendon said. "That's baseball.''

Lenny Harris pinch-ran for Karros, Mark Bellhorn drew a walk to

load the bases and Mike Williams relieved Sauerbeck. O'Leary pinch

hitting for Damian Miller followed with a fly ball for the go-ahead

run.

"This team is battling and I think that is a trademark of

Dusty,'' said Cubs starter Matt Clement.

Kyle Farnsworth (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth to get the

victory. Joe Borowski pitched a perfect ninth inning to collect his

third save in three opportunities.

Clement struggled in the first three innings. He hit one batter,

walked two and gave up three hits, two them of doubles.

Aramis Ramirez put the Pirates ahead with a two-run double in

the third, but Clement shut down the Pirates lineup for the next

three innings. He retired the next 12 batters in order.

Wilson was able to reach base on Choi's throwing error in the

seventh and moved up on Clement's wild pitch. An RBI grounder by

Kenny Lofton put the Pirates ahead 3-2.

Clement allowed three runs, two of them earned, on four hits and

two walks in seven innings.

Patterson scored on a single by Damian Miller in the fourth to

tie it at 2.

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead when Moises Alou doubled in the second

and Wells walked Choi and Patterson to load the bases. After

striking out Bellhorn, Wells walked Miller to force home a run.

Wells allowed three hits, walked five and struck out six in six

innings.

"The last game I also had trouble with my command,'' said

Wells. "I tried to be too fine and hit the corners rather than

just throw down the middle and get ahead.''

Game notes
Stairs didn't start because of a sore hamstring. He is

day-to-day. ... Sosa is batting just .227 over his last seven games

(5-for-22) with two extra-base hits. ... Entering the game, the

Pirates had gone 21 innings without an extra-base hit. Jason

Kendall hit a first inning double to end the streak. ... With the

victory, the Cubs won their third series of the season. In 2002,

they didn't record their third series victory until the first week

of May. In their 10th series of the season.