NL Central good place to be for struggling Cubs

Lou Piniella had a little announcement to make before Tuesday night's Cubs game against the Cincinnati Reds.

"We're going to have another hot spot," Piniella added. "We're going to get hot here one more time. Hopefully it's sooner than later.

"We're in this race to stay. We're not going to fall out of this thing."

That was at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. A few hours later, Piniella's words read like so much bravado after his charges fell 6-5 to the Cincinnati Reds, who are fighting to stay out of last place in the National League Central.

The Cubs finally turned the missing power back on, with home runs by Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones. But all 3 were solo shots, and starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano was not his usual sharp self as the Cubs fell to 60-58.

The Cubs rallied from a 4-0 deficit, and the crowd of 40,750 got excited in the bottom of the ninth inning when Mike Fontenot lifted a deep flyball to right field with a man on. Instead of a game-winning home run, it was just a long out as the Cubs fell to their third straight loss.

"We battled today," Piniella said. "We gave up some runs and kept coming back. The ball Fontenot hit, where's the Wrigley Field wind? I thought it was out of the ballpark, I really did."

Zambrano (14-9) lost his second straight decision. He struck out no one and tied his season high for hits allowed with 13 over 7 innings.

"I felt good today," he said. "I felt like I made good pitches today. They came ready today, ready to hit the ball. There's nothing I can do. Just think of my next game and do a better job in my next game."

This is an important week for the Cubs. While they're playing the Reds, the first-place Milwaukee Brewers are playing host to the St. Louis Cardinals, who are making a hard charge in the division.

"This is an interesting week in the Central, it really is," Piniella said. "This has been a division in which there have been a lot of opportunities. We could be a lot further back or we could be ahead. We could have a 5- or 6-game lead or we could be 10 or 11 or 12 back."

The Cubs got one of their walking wounded back Tuesday as Ramirez returned after missing six games on the road trip with an injured right wrist.

The Red scored twice on 3 hits against Zambrano in the third inning and twice more on 4 hits in the fourth.

Lee and Ramirez hit back-to-back homers off Aaron Harang in the fourth to cut the lead in half.

Jones homered with two outs in the sixth to bring the Cubs within 5-3. The Reds scored 1 in the seventh before the Cubs put across single runs in the seventh and eighth.

Piniella had a beef with the umpires in the eighth when he tried to call timeout to get pinch runner Ronny Cedeno into the game after Ramirez walked. The Cubs manager was several feet onto the field, but the umpires allowed a pitch to be made. Piniella argued with the umpires in the tunnel after the game.

"Somebody saw me; somebody had to call timeout there," Piniella said. "I was out there in plenty of time. I think everybody in the ballpark saw me but the four umpires.

"That's not true. The guy at second base (umpire Brian Knight) saw me. He felt the pitcher was ready to throw. So he didn't call timeout.

"That's not why we lost the ballgame."

Reds 6, Cubs 5

At the plate: Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones hit solo homers for the Cubs. It was Lee's first homer since July 29 and Ramirez's first since July 20. Lee also had an RBI single, as did Matt Murton.

On the mound: Carlos Zambrano was not as sharp as usual. He gave up 13 hits and 6 runs in 7 innings. He struck out none and walked two. Carlos Marmol loaded the bases in the eighth but got out of the jam with three straight outs.

-- Bruce Miles