Nothing going right for Cubs vs. lefties
Cubs manager Dale Sveum can't figure out why his team has had so much trouble against left-handed pitchers this year.
Those struggles continued Sunday night as Red Sox lefty Franklin Morales, an emergency starter for the injured Josh Beckett, struck out a career-high nine over 5 innings as Boston beat the Cubs 7-4 to win two of three.
The Cubs entered the game batting only .224 against left-handed pitchers, and they were 3-14 against left-handed starters.
“It's almost a fluke,” Sveum said. “Coming into the season, like I said, I thought that would be one of our strong points offensively because we stick a lot of right-handed hitters out there who have had really nice careers against left-handed pitching. Not that they're doing horrible, but we're not getting the slugging percentage at all against left-handed pitching, and it's holding us back from scoring multiple runs in an inning and stuff like that.”
Sveum sounded at a loss after Sunday night's loss.
“You can't even try and do what we do against left-handed pitchers,” he said. “It's very difficult to have those kinds of numbers and slugging percentage and everything like that against left-handed pitching on a consistent basis.”
Cubs lefty Paul Maholm worked 6 innings, giving up 6 hits and 3 runs. Boston scored 3 in the seventh against the Cubs bullpen to break a 3-3 tie.
Ready for Round 2:The Cubs hope to exact some revenge against the White Sox beginning Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field. Last month at Wrigley Field, the Sox swept the Cubs in three. #8220;Obviously, they're doing a nice job over there,#8221; Dale Sveum said. #8220;We're worried about the day in and day out with us and winning ballgames every single day, no matter who we're playing. But we all know there will be a different atmosphere when we play the White Sox tomorrow, especially after getting swept here.#8220;Hopefully, we come out and prove we're capable of competing with first-place teams and like that.#8221;Soto coming back:Look for the Cubs to activate catcher Geovany Soto off the disabled list for Game 1 of the White Sox series. Soto has been at Class AAA Iowa rehabbing from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. Dale Sveum seems inclined to keep three catchers: Soto, Welington Castillo and Steve Clevenger. Speaking of catchers, veteran Koyie Hill declined an assignment to Class AAA Iowa and opted for free agency. The Cubs designated Hill for assignment last week.BBO30492101Boston Red Sox starter Franklin Morales throws against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning of an interleague baseball game in Chicago, Sunday, June 17, 2012.Associated PressBBO