Cubs win despite rain

PITTSBURGH -- The way the Chicago Cubs' offense is going, they would have waited all day and night to get a victory -- and, for a while, it seemed they would do exactly that.\nJon Lieber withstood more than three hours of rain delays to remain unbeaten against his former club, limiting Pittsburgh to a run over five innings in the Cubs' soggy 5-1 victory Sunday.\nThe game was called midway through the eighth inning following three rain delays totaling 3 hours, 53 minutes.\n"I don't mind as long as we get out of here with the win," reliever Joe Borowski said. "We've been struggling lately, so any way we can get a win we'll take it."\nThe delays were wearying enough for both teams, but what made it worse for the Pirates was facing Lieber in-between the stops and starts.\nLieber (2-0) won for the 19th time in 22 decisions dating to last season and improved to 7-0 in 10 career starts against the Pirates, who dealt him for outfielder Brant Brown before the 1999 season.\n"It's tough to get anything going because he forces you to hit at his pace," Kevin Young said. "He keeps everything moving fast. Hitting is a rhythm ... and when it's his rhythm, it's more difficult."\nLieber was cruising with a 4-1 lead when play was stopped for 1:33 with the Cubs two outs away from making it an official game in the fifth. Lieber returned to get those outs, which he needed to earn the victory, before being replaced by Donovan Osborne to start the sixth.\n"It was fine going back out," Lieber said. "I just tried to do the same things I tried to do before. I didn't throw that many pitches, so I tried to stay loose."\nLieber was his usual efficient self, walking none while throwing 59 pitches -- all but 15 for strikes -- over five innings, even after sitting through an initial delay of 1:39 before play started.\nWhile Lieber was breezing against a Pirates team that is hitting an NL-low .212, Pirates starter Ron Villone (1-2) was roughed up early, allowing four runs and six hits and walking four in three innings. The start was similar to his 6-2 loss to the Mets on opening day, when he needed 62 pitches just to get through two innings.\n"He didn't have it," manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He was getting the ball up and couldn't throw his pitches for strikes."\nVillone got himself in trouble by walking Chris Stynes, batting .167, to start the four-run third, and Sammy Sosa was intentionally walked following Darren Lewis' sacrifice bunt. Fred McGriff singled into right field to load the bases.\nAlex Gonzalez, who grounded into the ninth-inning double play that ended the Pirates' 3-2 victory Saturday, gave the Cubs the lead with a two-run single into left. Mark Bellhorn followed later a two-run double that made it 4-0.\nThe big inning was a rarity for the Cubs, who scored more than two runs only three times in their first 10 games.\nThe Pirates' only run off Lieber came in the fourth on a pair of singles and Armando Rios' force-play grounder.\n"That's tough getting here at 8 in the morning, then staying here until 9 at night and not winning," Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson said. "They threw those four runs up there (in the third), then we had to sit down again. That was really tough."\nThe Cubs won twice in the three weekend games for their first series victory of the season. Pittsburgh has dropped four of five, all at home, since winning five straight.\n"It was a tough day, sitting around, starting and stopping," McClendon said. "Those weren't real ideal conditions."\nCubs manager Don Baylor said the Pirates erred by turning on the lights in the middle of the third before umpire Ed Montague requested them. But, aware the rain was supposed to return, he didn't want to delay play by demanding they be turned off.\nNotes: Saturday's game was delayed by rain for 58 minutes. ... By the time the game ended at 7:44 p.m. EDT, there only a few hundred fans in the stands. ... The Cubs lost their first three series. ... The Pirates are 4-1 on the road and 2-4 at home. ... Lieber has a 2.67 ERA in 10 starts against Pittsburgh. ... The Cubs, who left afterward for Montreal, may have set an unofficial record for fastest departure, leaving PNC Park barely 45 minutes after the game ended. ...Borowski pitched the seventh for his first save.