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Third straight loss leaves Cubs back at .500

Just a few days ago, it looked like the Chicago Cubs might be ready to leave the .500 mark in the rearview mirror.

If they had merely spun their wheels, they'd have done that, but once again, they hit the reverse gear.

The Cubs lost their third straight game Friday, 5-3 to the Colorado Rockies at Wrigley Field. The game was maddening for the Cubs, who picked up only 3 hits and went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Rockies pitchers served up 182 pitches in a game that was totally devoid of any pace or rhythm. While the Cubs were falling back to a record of 30-30, the Rockies were winning their sixth in a row to move to 40-23, good for first place in the National League West.

"I've always talked about working in increments of five," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon, referring to five games over .500 at a time. "We get close to that, and I think we've been there maybe once. Then you go from 5 to 10, etc. Primarily, this is not unlike the (0-6) West Coast trip, where we were just unable to get hits."

For the season, the Cubs are batting .216 (106-for-491) with runners in scoring position. They had plenty of chances Friday, drawing 9 walks and getting hit by 2 pitches.

They managed a first-inning 2-0 lead on an RBI single by Jason Heyward, with another run coming home on an error by Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon.

The Cubs loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth as Rockies closer Greg Holland walked three straight batters with one out. Ben Zobrist popped out on a first pitch, and Heyward struck out to end the game.

"I wish I had come through with that one right there," said Heyward, who seemed frustrated with himself. "I wish I'd have come through in that at-bat right there."

As far as the defending world champions not being able to shake loose of .500, Heyward didn't seem as concerned about that. The Cubs entered the game just a game behind Milwaukee in the NL Central.

"I don't care what the record is," he said. "We got to worry about the standings in our division. That's that. We've got to keep pushing. We've got to try to win. We've got to try not to lose series. This is a four-game set. That starts tomorrow.

"Again, I don't care what the record is, where it is. You've got to be in it to win it. And if we can win this division, we've got a chance after that in October. We got to get there."

To get there, the Cubs also will have to get their starting pitching sorted out. Lefty Mike Montgomery became the seventh Cub to start a game this year, as he took the spot of injured righty Kyle Hendricks.

The pitch count caught up to Montgomery, as he threw 73 in 4 innings.

Montgomery gave up a game-tying 2-run homer to Ryan Hanigan in the second, but deep counts were his undoing.

"I thought they did a good job working at-bats," Montgomery said. "They had a good lineup, and I just wasn't able to get those quick outs. I knew how to battle. Pitch count got up a little bit but they got a good team. Credit to them."

The non-quality start by Montgomery was the Cubs' 37th of the season compared with only 23 quality starts. The Cubs are 17-6 when they get a quality start, and 13-24 when they don't.

But the Cubs have plenty of issues on both sides of the ball if they want to shake the .500 mark for good

"At the end of the day, man, again, I can't overemphasize enough: We've seen this happen too often where we've seen a lot of pitches and not made the adjustment with runners in scoring position," Maddon said. "That's the next challenge for us. That will be 5 over, then 10 over and 15 over .500."

Right now, that looks a long way off on the horizon.

• Follow Bruce's Cubs and baseball reports on Twitter @BruceMiles2112.

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