Cubs Clobber Mariners Staff Before Record Spring Crowd

Jaime Navarro pitched five strong innings and Scott Bullett had three hits as the Chicago Cubs beat the Seattle Mariners 8-5 Sunday in Peoria, Ariz.

An Arizona spring-training record crowd of 11,066 watched the game, breaking the one-day-old mark of 10,635 set by the Californiai-San Francisco game in Scottsdale.

Navarro, a 14-game winner for the Cubs last season, allowed two runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out two. He gave up a two-run single to Paul Sorrento in the fourth.

Bullett drove in a run with a fielder’s choice ground out in the first inning. He had a double to lead off the ninth and also had two singles.

After the Mariners cut the Cubs’ lead to 6-5 with a three-run homer by Steve Pegues off Larry Casian in the eighth inning, Chicago scored two runs off closer Norm Charlton in the ninth.

The Cubs had 16 hits and four walks off five Mariners pitchers.

Menhart lame

Right-hander Paul Menhart, the projected No. 4 starter in Seattle’s rotation, hasn’t pitched in six days and may not start again until March 25 because of a knot in his calf.

Best case scenario: He’s ready to pitch April 13, when the team first needs its No. 5 starter. Team doctors have told the team not to expect Chris Bosio to be ready to pitch before May 1.

Boost for Polonia

As the final cuts inch closer, it appears increasingly likely that Luis Polonia will be Seattle’s opening day left fielder no matter how well Darren Bragg plays this spring.

“We’re awfully young,” one coach said. “Polonia gives us experience, and I think that’s the way we’re leaning.” Polonia is batting .226 this spring, Bragg is hitting .485 and leads the team in hits with 16.

Pitcher burned

Red Sox pitcher Vaughn Eshelman burned both his hands early Sunday morning while trying to extinguish a fire in his hotel room in Fort Myers, Fla.

The fire started when Eshelman’s wife Julie was trying to warm a baby bottle for their 2-1/2-month old son, Evan, with a candle. A wash cloth became ignited by the flame and when the fire spread, Eshelman tried to smother it with his hands, Red Sox officials said.

He suffered second-degree burns on all five fingers of his right hand, and several fingers on his left pitching hand.

Scare for pitcher

Newly acquired outfielder Sherman Obando had three hits for Montreal, one that Boston starter Jeff Suppan is unlikely to forget for a while.

Obando, picked up last week from Baltimore for outfielder Tony Tarasco, hit Suppan in the face with a line drive in the third inning of Montreal’s 6-3 victory over a split squad of Red Sox. Suppan was taken to hospital for tests, but did not lose consciousness and did not appear to be seriously injured.

Larocca’s big day

Rob Deer drove in four runs and former Spokane Indians infielder Greg Larocca homered and drove in three as San Diego’s split squad wracked California ace Chuck Finley and beat the Angels 18-2 at Tempe, Ariz.

Yanks bail out Cone

David Cone put aside a battering by the Chicago White Sox, and watched his New York Yankees’ teammates rally for a 7-4 victory.

Cone, the ace of the New York staff, gave up four runs on eight hits in five innings.