Cubs let one get away
Blow lead in ninth before losing in 15 to snap win streak at five
Even before the blown save and the Cubs' long, lost game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, manager Lou Piniella tried to temper the building hype.
''Let's not get giggly with this little run we're having,'' he said before closer Ryan Dempster's first blown save of the season tied a game the Pirates eventually won 4-3 with a sacrifice fly in the 15th inning.
''Let's not get giggly with this little run we're having,'' he said before closer Ryan Dempster's first blown save of the season tied a game the Pirates eventually won 4-3 with a sacrifice fly in the 15th inning.
It was an inglorious ending to the Cubs' five-game winning streak and -- despite a few clutch performances in extra innings -- underscored a lot of what the manager spoke about earlier in the day.
It was an inglorious ending to the Cubs' five-game winning streak and -- despite a few clutch performances in extra innings -- underscored a lot of what the manager spoke about earlier in the day.
''It wasn't the best major-league game,'' Piniella said after a botched throw from catcher Michael Barrett on a steal of third set up Jack Wilson's sacrifice fly in the 15th. ''We had our chances. We just didn't take advantage of them.''
The Cubs came back twice to tie and eventually to take the lead in the seventh, but their inability to score more than single runs in the fifth and seventh and squandering a golden opportunity to add on in the eighth proved costly.
''We had a plethora of wasted opportunities,'' Piniella said. ''That eighth inning I thought we could put the game away.''
After Derrek Lee singled and Aramis Ramirez doubled to put runners at second and third with no outs, Matt Murton popped out. After Barrett was intentionally walked, Jacque Jones grounded into the unconventional double play to first, with Adam LaRoche stepping on the bag, then throwing home to get Lee trying to score.
''We've got to continue to improve and play better baseball because the rest of the teams we're going to be playing are going to get better themselves,'' Piniella said before the game. ''So there's a lot of work to be done here, but I've been encouraged.''
If there was anything encouraging for the Cubs on Tuesday night, it was the six hits and three runs driven in by the 1-2 hitters in the order, Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot, as well as another seven strong innings by hard-luck starter Ted Lilly. Soriano and Theriot also added big inning-ending defensive plays in the 11th and 12th, respectively. Soriano threw out a runner at the plate, and Theriot completed a 4-3 double play with the benefit of a questionable call at first.
Struggling reliever Scott Eyre also pitched a three-inning confidence-builder to get the game to the 15th -- including stranding Xavier Nady at third base after he led off the 12th with a double and continued to third on a tough error on Jones in center.
It was Eyre's longest outing since he pitched four scoreless innings for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2002 and could put him on track to win back his late-inning setup role.
The Cubs, who used a season-high 22 players four days after using 21 to beat the Washington Nationals, also played their fifth extra-inning game -- the most they've played in their first 30 games since the same number in 2000. The Cubs fell to 1-4 in extra-inning games.
It also was their longest game since an 18-inning victory at Houston on Aug. 15.