Over the last 50 years, it's never happened to a Chicago Cub. But that was Todd Walker's night. Juan Pierre doubled and scored on Walker's groundout in the 14th inning Friday to lift the Cubs to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in front of 45,799, the largest crowd of the season at new Busch Stadium.

Actually, it was in front of the hundred-plus still awake five hours and four minutes after the first pitch.

"I was out there yawning," Pierre said. "If we're going to play this long, we just have to win."

Pierre doubled to lead off the 14th against Josh Hancock (1-2), and advanced on Neifi Perez's sacrifice. Michael Barrett was intentionally walked, and Walker hit a grounder to Albert Pujols at first, allowing Pierre to score.

"This is one of the weirdest nights I've had personally in baseball," Walker said. "You go 0-for-7 when the team gets 19 hits. Tonight for me was a no-strikeout night, where you just put the ball in play and good things will happen. Tonight was one of those examples, but definitely weird."

The last time a Cub went 0-for-6 but knocked in a run was when Andre Dawson did so on June 8, 1992, at St. Louis. Dawson's RBI, however, was not a game-winner. His groundout gave the Cubs a 4-1 lead in the 13th, and they finished with a 5-2 win.

"He went 0-for-7?" manager Dusty Baker said, apparently not keeping count as the Cubs racked up 16 hits.

Ryan Dempster (1-3) picked up the win, the first by the Cubs in four extra-inning games this year. He went 2 1/3 innings and also got an at-bat in the 14th, his first since early 2005.

"I've thrown more [pitches] in one inning than tonight. I'm sure I had one more," Dempster said. "I'm glad I didn't have to."

Glendon Rusch, who is Saturday's scheduled starter, was sent to the bullpen just in case. He would've pitched the 15th.

"I was the next man in," Rusch said.

"We would've worried about tomorrow, tomorrow," Baker said. "We needed this one tonight."

The Cardinals overcame a 2-1 deficit in the seventh when Scott Rolen hit a two-run double and Aaron Miles hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to make it 4-2. But the Cubs rallied to tie the game at 4 in the ninth, loading the bases with one out against Jason Isringhausen. Walker bounced a ball toward Rolen at third, and it scooted between his legs for an error, allowing two runs to score.

 

"Did I pitch in this game?"

-- Cubs' Friday starter Sean Marshall

"That was a huge game for us," Dempster said. "This game is made on capitalizing on mistakes. I've never seen that before where Rolen misses a ball through his legs. We capitalized, we got there and the bullpen picked each other up along the way."

"We had the ground ball we wanted," Isringhausen said. "It didn't work out."

Jacque Jones hit a solo homer, his 10th of the year and third in as many games, to lead off the Cubs' fifth. Last season, Jones hit 10 homers in the first half of the season and finished with 23. One out later, Ronny Cedeno was safe on an infield single, and he scored one out later on Pierre's single, sliding under the tag by catcher Yadier Molina.

"Lost in the game was [starter Sean] Marshall's effort," Baker said. "He had a great game. We had some guys who had some tough games -- Ronny [Cedeno] had a real tough night. Rarely do you come in here and win a game like that against these guys. Hopefully, the worm has turned. This is a good way to start off June."

Marshall gave up two runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings and did not walk a batter in his 11th start.

"Did I pitch in this game?" the rookie said, jokingly.

Henry Blanco was the only position player who didn't get an at-bat. The Cubs could've ended this earlier. They hit into double plays in the second, third and fourth, and again in the eighth when they loaded the bases with one out against Braden Looper. Cedeno also committed a baserunning gaffe in the seventh when he was caught stealing at third by reliever Randy Flores.

"We had a squeeze play on, and Ronny was taking off and the ball was going to first base," Baker said. "He thought he was going home. When you've got young players, you're constantly teaching them."

The Cubs now are 1-0 in June, and they were eager to turn the calendar after winning seven games in May.

"You've got to play good ball," Baker said about the team's goal now. "You want to win series. You want to win 10 in a row, but you don't have to win 10 in a row. Just keep winning series and hopefully slow-walk your way to the top. Get a few breaks.

"We've got some teams in our division that are playing pretty good and beating each other," Baker said. "You need some help from other teams, but most of the help comes from yourself."

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.