ST. LOUIS — Lou Piniella may have finally found the right lineup combination. He can only hope the Cubs have enough players to field a team.
Kosuke Fukudome celebrated his 32nd birthday by driving in a career-high five runs, including three on his fourth homer, and Micah Hoffpauir, subbing for injured Derrek Lee, belted a solo homer to power the Cubs to a 10-3 victory Sunday over the Cardinals, and snap a four-game losing streak.
Fukudome, batting third, hit a pair of RBI singles and a three-run blast off lefty Trever Miller with two outs in the eighth. It's his first home run off a southpaw pitcher in the Major Leagues.
"I think it is important to let Manager Lou know I'm comfortable against left-handed pitchers," Fukudome said through interpreter Hiro Aoyama.
Did he ever have a better birthday present?
"No," Fukudome said, smiling.
Manager Lou needs all the help he can get. Alfonso Soriano was back at the leadoff spot for the Cubs, who were shorthanded because of injuries to Aramis Ramirez (calf), Milton Bradley (groin) and Carlos Marmol (knee). They became even more handcuffed when Lee had to leave the game with neck spasms after hitting an RBI double in the three-run first.
Lee's hit was the fourth straight by the Cubs that inning, which Soriano kick-started with a single. Fukudome hit an RBI single, Lee then doubled, and another run scored on Mike Fontenot's groundout. Chicago made it 4-0 in the second on Hoffpauir's bases-loaded walk.
The Cubs got a scare, though, when Soriano was hit in the head by an errant pitch from Todd Wellemeyer (1-2). Soriano stayed in the game, and in his next at-bat in the fourth, he doubled to right, stole third, and scored on shortstop Khalil Greene's throwing error.
"It was a very scary moment," Soriano said. "I'm fine. I didn't feel dizzy or anything like that. I'm fine."
He's been hit in the head before, but it's not something anyone becomes accustomed to.
"They asked me [if he wanted to come out] but I said I'm fine," Soriano said. "I wanted to keep playing because we don't have too many players."
What was even more encouraging than Soriano's ability to shake off a headache was seeing him hit the ball to right. Piniella provided an incentive for the left fielder to do it more.
"I'd love to see him go that way more often," Piniella said. "He's making enough money, but I'd put a new $100 bill in his pocket if we could get him to stroke the ball to right-center field. I'd love to do that."
The reason is that other teams don't play Soriano to hit to right, so if he can go that direction, he'll find a gap.
"When I saw him with the Yankees, he used to hit a lot of home runs to straightaway right field," Piniella said.
Hoffpauir connected off P.J. Walters leading off the seventh as the Cubs scored more runs Sunday than they had in their last four games combined. The beneficiary of all the offense was Rich Harden (2-1), who struck out nine and served up four hits, including solo homers by Yadier Molina and Rick Ankiel, over six innings for the win.
"This was definitely an important game because we'd lost a few in a row," Harden said. "You want to treat every start the same, but you also want to stop a slide like that."
The right-hander's velocity picked up as the game progressed, with him hitting 95 mph more than a few times, and that extra oomph on his fastball helped make his changeup more effective.
"I wasn't feeling too great early on," Harden said. "I was missing location, two-strike pitches that I wasn't making. I wanted to pick up the intensity a little bit and give everything I've got and it worked a little better."
The Cubs are banged up as they head to Arizona for a three-game series. If Lee will be out for an extended period, Piniella said he didn't expect to play with a 20-man roster. However, getting 14 hits, including several timely ones, plus a win sure helps.
"I hope we wake up now and go to Arizona with a good feeling," Soriano said.