It takes a lot more than a 52-minute rain delay to faze Jon Lieber.
Lieber is so focused he probably could pitch through a hurricane. Then he would shrug it off and say, “No big deal.”
“One of the younger guys was asking, `What’s Lieber’s time limit for rain delays?'” catcher Joe Girardi recalled. “I said, `Tomorrow.’ There was no way he wouldn’t come back after the rain delay.”
After the delay Thursday, Lieber led the Cubs to a 5-2 victory at Busch Stadium.
It was a huge triumph for the Cubs, who left St. Louis with a burst of confidence, a four-game series split and a six-game lead in the National League Central.
“This is a tough team and a tough place to play,” closer Tom Gordon said. “We have to feel good about ourselves.”
And feel good about their situation. The Cubs have seven games remaining with St. Louis and all are at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs swept a three-game series earlier this month.
Lieber strengthened his bid to earn his first All-Star nod by allowing just two earned runs over seven innings. He improved to 8-4 and lowered his ERA to 3.27.
Lieber gave up a home run to Fernando Vina on the first pitch he threw but rebounded to retire the next six hitters.
“You just have to forget about [the homer] and move onto the next guy,” Lieber said. “We still had 27 outs to go.”
The Cubs tied the game on Ron Coomer’s RBI single in the third and took a 2-1 lead on Todd Dunwoody’s first home run in a Cubs uniform.
Craig Paquette’s sacrifice fly evened the score 2-2, but Ricky Gutierrez responded with a two-out RBI single in the fifth. Lieber, Jeff Fassero and Gordon shut the Cardinals down the rest of the way.
“Lieber has a lot of fight in him,” manager Don Baylor said.
Lieber retired the first two batters in the seventh before the sold-out crowd of 47,950 was given something to cheer about.
Mark McGwire emerged from the Cardinals’ dugout to pinch-hit, prompting a visit to the mound from Girardi and pitching coach Oscar Acosta.
“The message was: Be careful and so forth,” Lieber recalled. “We don’t want to let this guy beat us.”
In typical style Lieber went right after McGwire, throwing a first-pitch strike. McGwire singled to left on a 1-1 pitch, but Lieber ended the threat when he retired Fernando Vina on a long fly ball to center.
The victory was sweet, but the Cubs were not about to uncork bottles of champagne.
“We’re not celebrating yet,” Baylor said. “We still have to play tomorrow.”
