Cubs Fight Back, but Padres Prevail

Will Cunnane pitched much better than his previous appearance at Wrigley Field. Then again, almost anything would have been an improvement for the San Diego reliever.

Cunnane stopped Chicago’s comeback, and wound up as the winning pitcher as pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney singled home the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning and San Diego edged Chicago, 7-5, Saturday.

Cunnane (6-2) struck out two in 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief. Trevor Hoffman pitched 1 1/3 innings for his 27th save. The victory was the Padres’ third in their last 11 games.

“The last time I pitched here, I let in eight runs without getting an out, so that was in the back of my mind,” Cunnane said.

Lance Johnson, traded from the New York Mets to Chicago on Friday, went two for five in his Cub debut. His RBI single helped Chicago rally from an early 5-0 deficit.

With the score tied, 5-5, Greg Vaughn led off the Padres seventh with a single against Terry Adams (1-6). Two outs later, Sweeney batted for Cunnane and lined a single beyond he reach of third baseman Kevin Orie.

Steve Finley singled home another run in the eighth. Rickey Henderson walked, stole second and third and scored on Finley’s third hit.

The Cubs already had scored five times in the fifth, tying it at 5-5, when Cunnane took over.

Consecutive singles by Ryne Sandberg, Mike Hubbard and Jose Hernandez loaded the bases in the Cubs’ fifth against Padrestarter Andy Ashby, and Johnson singled home a run.

Doug Glanville’s walk forced home another run, and a throwing error by third baseman Ken Caminiti on Sammy Sosa’s grounder made it 5-3.

Pinch-hitter Dave Clark had a two-run single to tie it, 5-5. Cunnane relieved and struck out Orie, and Sosa was caught trying to steal third.

“We haven’t had a whole lot of innings where we put that [many] runs on the board,” Cub Manager Jim Riggleman said.

“Ironically, it was an inning where we actually could have put more on. We didn’t and it kind of came back to haunt us.”

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