Lahair sparkles in a pinch
Pinch hitting ‘‘is the hardest thing to do,’’ Cubs first baseman Bryan Lahair said.
But Lahair did it perfectly in a 12-pitch at-bat Monday against St. Louis Cardinals closer Jason Motte, drawing a one-out walk in the ninth inning and setting the table for the Cubs’ 3-2 comeback victory.
‘‘It felt great to celebrate like that on the field and come back against a team that’s in first place, but you put it behind you now,’’ Lahair said before the game Tuesday, in which he hit a home run in the ninth to tie the score and force extra innings.
Lahair fouled off six pitches before coaxing the walk, forcing Motte’s pitch count to rise early in the inning. Catcher Geovany Soto also walked before utility player Joe Mather stroked a two-out single to bring them home.
‘‘He seemed to still have stuff in the tank,’’ Lahair said of Motte. ‘‘He’s a tough guy to face. I had my hands full on every pitch.’’
Lahair provides an important left-handed bat off the bench when he’s not in the lineup at first.
‘‘I’m just part of the team,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s my role now. I feel I can do something every time I’m at the plate, but . . . we all have roles.’’
Sori stays
Manager Dale Sveum said he has no plans to move left fielder Alfonso Soriano down in the lineup. He said he’s still confident Soriano’s history of hitting will stay true this season.
Soriano batted fifth Tuesday after hitting in the cleanup spot in most games, but he won’t be moved to the bottom of the order despite not having a home run yet.
‘‘He’s still a big threat, and there are people around him who can do things,’’ Sveum said. ‘‘I’ve said it before: The media guide doesn’t lie. He’ll end up with 25 or 30 home runs, and we’ll all look back on this as nothing.’’
Day work
Sveum talked during spring training about taking advantage of home night games to get in extra hitting and fielding work during the afternoon. The Cubs have been doing that.
‘‘We play so many day games that some of the [extra] work gets lost,’’ he said. ‘‘So when the weather is halfway decent, we’ll take care of little things we have to work on. In Florida, we did a little of everything. We’ll always try to do something to keep up with the fundamentals.’’
Back to Iowa
Right-hander Rodrigo Lopez cleared waivers and was assigned to Class AAA Iowa.