The Cubs began Chapter 2 of “Life Without Sammy” on Wednesday night, and it read suspiciously like the end of Chapter 1.
On the first day of Sammy Sosa’s seven-game suspension, the Cubs beat Baltimore 7-6 in a game delayed 1 hour 44 minutes by a rainstorm before the start of the ninth inning.
Earlier in the day, Major League Baseball reduced Sosa’s suspension for using a corked bat against Tampa Bay on June 3 from eight to seven games. He’s eligible to return Wednesday in Cincinnati. The Cubs were 10-7 without Sosa when he spent three weeks on the disabled list after surgery to remove the toenail on his big right toe.
With the Sosa bat-corking episode on the backburner, the focus finally turned to the game. The Cubs were on the verge of running their interleague record to 6-2 before the rain fell, causing the delay.
Matt Clement, gunning for his second straight victory after a five-game losing streak, allowed two runs on four hits in six innings. The only runs off Clement came on Jay Gibbons’ two-run, line-drive double in the sixth that rookie left-fielder David Kelton, making his first major-league start, probably should have caught.
The Cubs grabbed a 3-0 lead against Omar Daal in the third on Moises Alou’s run-scoring double and Damian Miller’s two-run double. Corey Patterson and Alou drove in runs in the fifth to make it 5-0.
But trailing 7-2 in the eighth, the Orioles awoke against the Cubs bullpen, scoring four runs off Kyle Farnsworth, Antonio Alfonseca and Mark Guthrie. With one out and the tying runs on the corners, Baker called on closer Joe Borowski in the driving rainstorm to stem the tide.
Luis Matos pulled the Orioles to within a run with an RBI groundout. But Borowski struck out Geronimo Gil to end the threat before the umpires stopped the game.
