Cubs’ winning streak ends at 7
It would have been a crazy eighth indeed if the Cubs had been able to pull it off.
But they were looking at the good things Sunday following an 8-7 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field.
It looked like the Cubs’ seven-game winning streak would be history early in this game, but they rallied from being down 6-2 with a pair of runs in the sixth inning and 3 in the seventh to take a short-lived lead.
But a slip in center field by Marlon Byrd and an uncharacteristic bad outing by lefty Sean Marshall opened the door to 2 Cincinnati runs in the top of the eighth.
“Try and start one tomorrow,” manager Mike Quade said of a new winning streak. “We ain’t packing nothing in. It was good to see. It’s just tough. It’s tough to lose a game like that.”
The Cubs had bailed out starting pitcher Randy Wells, who gave up 3 homers and 6 runs altogether over a season-long 7-inning performance.
Marshall, one of the most dependable relievers in the game, made a good pitch on Joey Votto leading off the eighth and got Votto to pop the ball into short center field.
Shortstop Starlin Castro initially called for the ball, but center fielder Byrd raced in and called Castro off, only to slip and fall. The ball dropped for a double. Marshall got a strikeout but gave up 2 hits and a walk, and the Reds went ahead for good this time.
“It hurts, it hurts,” Byrd said. “We didn’t lose on that ball, but that inning completely changes if I catch that ball, if I don’t slip.
“It’s one of those things where if you get the out, it’s two outs. When there’s a guy on second base, everything changes. It didn’t happen for us today. I liked the way we played all game long. We didn’t give up.”
The field was soaked by a heavy rain before the game. And the outfield has been on the mend since last week’s Paul McCartney concerts.
“I don’t think it’s OK,” said Byrd of the field. “But you had the concert. You had the rain the last couple days. That didn’t help. When I landed — obviously, I slipped — I went a good three feet.
“It’s one of those things that you try to get the field ready, but when it’s raining every single day, what can you do about the outfield?”
So what does this all mean for the Cubs? Their winning streak consisted of quality starts, hitting home runs and generally playing good baseball. Quade dismissed any notion that the Cubs (49-66) were playing well now that the pressure is off.
“I don’t buy any of that stuff,” the manager said before the game. “I think we play better when we’re healthy. I think we’ve played better defense. We’ve gotten better. Hopefully that’s from hard work. Was there pressure in May when we were struggling? I don’t buy any of that.
“To me, if you want to talk about pressure, talk about the last two weeks of the season, when you’re in the hunt and there’s a game separating two or three clubs. Pressure every day to play major-league baseball is what it is.”