After a 2 hour, 45 minute rain delay, the Cubs & Astros tried to resume play on Monday evening in hopes of another comeback win by the home team.

Mother Nature halted those plans, as the game was called during the Cubs’ bottom half of the 8th inning, which gave the Houston Astros a 2-0 win from Wrigley Field.

The storm got so bad that fans at the ballpark were advised to take cover on the concourse & a tornado warning was even issued for downtown Chicago.

Lance Berkman then flied out to Jim Edmonds in centerfield, but Tejada was able to advance to 2nd base on the play.

Carlos Lee then hit an RBI single to score Tejada from 2nd base & give the Astros a 1-0 lead.

Lee was then able to advance to 3rd base after Kosuke Fukudome misplayed Lee’s single in right field.

With Lee at 3rd base & 2 outs, Dempster then got Hunter Pence to hit a sharp liner to Edmonds in centerfield to end the inning.

The Cubs had a scoring chance in the bottom of the 3rd inning after Ronny Cedeno hit a lead-off single against Astros started Brian Moehler.

Ryan Dempster then laid down a sac bunt to advance Cedeno to 2nd base with just 1 out.

Alfonso Soriano then struck out & Mike Fontenot grounded out to Lance Berkman at 1st base to end the scoring threat.

Houston then put together a 4th inning rally after Hunter Pence, Carlos Lee & Ty Wigginton hit 3 consecutive 1-out singles off Dempster.

Dempster then struck out Darin Erstad for the 2nd out before walking Humberto Quintero to force in Lee from 3rd base & give Houston a 2-0 lead.

Brian Moehler then struck out to end the inning.

Chicago then had a chance to score in the bottom of the 4th inning after Jim Edmonds’ fly ball skipped out of the glove of Hunter Pence in right field, which allowed Edmonds to take 2nd base.

Geovany Soto then grounded out to 1st base to end the scoring threat.

There was a rain delay after the bottom of the 5th inning which lasted approx. 2 hours & 49 minutes.

When play resumed, Chad Gaudin took over from the Cubs bullpen in relief of starter Ryan Dempster, who pitched 5 innings & allowed 2 runs on 5 hits while walking one batter & striking out seven Astros.

Gaudin pitched 2 scoreless innings to give his team a chance to possibly come back & either tie or take the lead.

That opportunity came during the bottom of the 7th inning, after Geovany Soto hit a lead-off single off Astros reliever Geoff Geary.

3 batters later, Mark DeRosa hit a deep fly ball to left field that just died on the warning track, as Carlos Lee hauled it in to end the inning.

Former Cub LaTroy Hawkins got Alfonso Soriano to strike out in the bottom of the 8th inning before another series of loud thunder emerged from the sky, which forced crew chief Wally Ball to suspend the game.

Brian Moehler (7-4) gets the win for the Astros after pitching 5 shutout innings & allowing 4 hits while striking out 4 Cub batters.

Ryan Dempster (12-5) takes the loss after allowing 2 runs on 5 hits despite striking out 7 Astro batters in 5 innings of work.

Former Cub LaTroy Hawkins retired 1 batter in the 8th inning to earn his 1st save of the season.

Chicago will now look to regroup & tie this series up Tuesday afternoon, as righty Rich Harden (1-1, 1.11 in 4 starts with Cubs) will be opposed by Houston lefty Wandy Rodriguez (6-4, 3.61).

Harden has allowed just 1 run in 10 1/3 innings of work in his 2 home starts so far as a Cub.

Rodriguez is 1-1 in 3 day starts this season with a 1.89 ERA & finished a rough month of July in which he went 3-1 in 6 starts with a 5.45 ERA.

Happy Birthday to Cubs reliever Bob Howry, who will turn 35 on Monday.

Signing off for now,