Why it was one of those afternoons at Wrigley
Cubs catcher Koyie Hill called it “kind of a bittersweet ending to what was turning into a really nice first start.”
Manager Mike Quade walked into the postgame interview room and asked: “Are we having any fun yet?”
Yeah, it was an- other one of those afternoons Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs wound up beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 before an announced crowd of 27,039. Once again, there were far fewer than that in the house.
The victory put the Cubs (3-2) above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2009 season.
Despite some late-inning heroics and a save by setup man Sean Marshall on a day when the bullpen was depleted, a sense of worry tugged at the team.
Second-year pitcher Andrew Cashner was dazzling in his first major-league start. He was throwing hard and keeping his pitch count down.
But after walking Willie Bloomquist with one out in the sixth, Cashner's day was done.
The 24-year-old righty experienced tightness in his pitching shoulder. After the game, he was on his way to see the team doctor, and Quade said an MRI was possible.
“I don't think we'll really know anything until tomorrow,” the manager said. “He just felt a little tightness. We're going to be cautious with everybody, especially early in the season.
Hopefully it's not something serious. He didn't have any trouble in (spring-training) camp. This caught us off-guard completely.
“Again, he was honest with us. Hopefully we were able to get him out of there before anything bad happened.”
Of course, Cubs fans no doubt will fear the worst, given the tortured history of the club.
Cashner, who beat out Carlos Silva for the fifth spot in the rotation, was well on his way to putting together the Cubs' fourth straight quality start.
Hill said he neither saw nor sensed any trouble.
“You know what? I didn't even realize anything was going on with him,” Hill said. “Something I had just noticed the inning before, he was doing a really good job of separating pitches, taking his time, really concentrating on this pitch.
“I remember thinking back a couple of pitches before (trainer Mark) O'Neal came out there that he was doing something. I didn't think anything of it because I thought he was just getting ready for the next pitch. I think something had grabbed him.”
It's too early to know what the Cubs will do if Cashner has to miss at least a start.
Silva shot off his mouth at the end of spring training when the Cubs said he could go to the minor leagues at get work in. That earned him his walking papers.
Right-hander Casey Coleman, who pitched well at the end of last year, is one possible option if Cashner can't go.
Quade was pleased with his team's effort after it blew a 4-1 lead in the seventh.
But Marlon Byrd got the go-ahead RBI in the bottom of the seventh with a single, and Tyler Colvin walked with the bases loaded. He had earlier hit a 2-run homer.
The Cubs got some good defense from Starlin Castro in the ninth as he helped bail Marshall out of trouble.
Ex-Cub Xavier Nady bounced one off Marshall's glove with runners on first and third and one out. Castro charged in and threw Nady out on a close play. A run scored, but Marshall struck out Bloomquist to end it.
“I tell you what,” Quade said. “Man, oh, man, that's something. These guys are unbelievable.”