Soriano missed a total of eight weeks this season with two disabled-list stints. In 76 games, he has driven in 61 runs.

Part of the reason is that Piniella has loaded the back end of his lineup with good hitters. For example, Mark DeRosa batted eighth Tuesday night. DeRosa his batting .278 with 14 homers and a .376 on-base percentage.

"We try to put combinations of lineups together that we get contributions from 1-8 or 1-9," Piniella said. "You've got Soriano in the leadoff spot. You want some strength at the tail end of your lineup so he'll get some RBI chances out of the one-hole. We've been relying on that all year. We look to our three and four hitters more than anything else, but at the same time, for us to function as a team offensively, we need to hit 1-8, and that's why you see us tinker around with the lineups a little bit."

CUBS 5, REDS 0: Rich Harden struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings and gave up just two hits. Geovany Soto tripled and scored the game's first run in the fifth, as he came home on Harden's sacrifice bunt with men on first and third. The Cubs broke it open with four in the eighth, with Kosuke Fukudome capping the rally with a two-run single. Carlos Marmol and Kerry Wood each worked a scoreless inning of relief.