Cubs spring another leak
REDS 5, CUBS 3 | Two errors lead to five unearned runs as North Siders lose to lowly Reds
CINCINNATI -- You couldn't blame this one on the pitching. But that doesn't mean the Cubs don't have problems.
You can add a few more to the list after a 5-3 loss Monday night in which the Cincinnati Reds didn't score an earned run and the Cubs reached base 15 times on hits, walks and hit batters -- and came away empty in the ninth after loading the bases with one out.
(AP)
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Reds 5, Cubs 3
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''Like I told my guys after the ballgame, 'Make the other team beat you. Just don't give it to them,''' manager Lou Piniella said. ''And I know they're not trying [to give it away]. At the same time, you play like that, you're going to lose most of the time.''
Starting pitching remains the Cubs' biggest area in need of fix, even after Ryan Dempster pitched another good six innings but was the victim of two errors behind him that led to all five Reds runs.
That's why Piniella said before the game he's pushing back struggling right-hander Jason Marquis in the rotation and using Thursday's day off to skip Marquis and slot his top three starters -- Ted Lilly, Dempster and Carlos Zambrano -- in this weekend's big series against the Diamondbacks.
That's why Piniella suggested the Cubs might carry a 13th pitcher in the short term to help cover the loss of demoted lefty Rich Hill.
That likely would mean sending center fielder Felix Pie to Class AAA Iowa to continue work on his hitting mechanics, which led to the question of whether the Cubs could use another left-handed bat.
''What we need more than anything else is to get our pitching straightened out,'' Piniella said. ''We need to win some low-scoring ballgames at times. We've been able to win when we score runs and haven't been able to win [when scoring fewer than four].''
It happened again Monday, with the Cubs falling to 2-13 in games in which they don't score at least four. But it was almost everything but the pitching that made the difference this time.
The Cub who had the best night was probably hitting coach Gerald Perry, who didn't have to watch much of it after getting ejected in the top of the second for yapping at the plate umpire.
In some ways it was a game symbolic of the Cubs' 3-8 slide that includes four losses in their last five games -- complete with a ninth-inning play that summed up the way things have turned for the Cubs since they were 15-6 with a two-game division lead just 13 days ago.
Mike Fontenot, who already muffed a one-out grounder in the first that led to three unearned runs, was on third with the bases loaded in the ninth when Reds closer Chad Cordero skipped a pitch off catcher Paul Bako toward the first-base dugout.
Whether Fontenot reacted quickly enough, the ball died in the grass about 15 feet from the plate, and Bako was able to pounce and throw out Fontenot with Cordero covering for the second out. Ryan Theriot then walked to reload the bases.
''Well, when you're losing baseball games, that's what happens,'' Piniella said. ''They shouldn't if you want to get out of this funk.
''That play in the last inning, it's aggressive -- but not in a two-run game. You almost have to be assured that you can fall down and still score before you go. If it's a one-run game, different story. You take a chance, but you still ...''
Fontenot called it ''just a bad decision.''
But there was plenty of blame to go around for a lineup that has hit in fits and starts since cleanup hitter Aramis Ramirez was knocked out of the lineup Friday, when he got hit on the wrist by a pitch.