Bumpy road for Hill in Cubs 6-1 loss
PITTSBURGH -- A good way to read Cubs manager Lou Piniella's mood is to watch his postgame performance.
If Piniella remains seated during his grilling, he's usually OK with his team, win or lose.
If Piniella stands, he's an unhappy camper.
Piniella remained standing Friday night after a lackluster 6-1 loss to the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. The Cubs (71-69) couldn't gain ground on the Brewers (also 71-69), who got beat 11-4 by the Reds.
The manager wasn't happy with starting pitcher Rich Hill.
And he wasn't happy with his team's continuing inability to score runs.
First, Hill. While it's true Hill has been the victim of poor run support all season -- Friday being no exception -- Piniella was hardly satisfied with the 6-inning, 9-hit performance he got from the lefty.
"Not really good," Piniella said during his 1-minute, 26-second news conference. "Not sharp. Behind in the count. Up with the ball. Not really a good performance."
Hill, whose record dropped to 8-8, couldn't disagree with the boss.
"It wasn't a very good outing," he said. "Take it and move on. That's it. I made some good pitches that got hit. I didn't walk many guys. I only walked one guy, so that wasn't an issue out there. The command was pretty good. I look at some of the positive things, but overall it wasn't very good."
Now for the offense: Cubs hitters couldn't get anything going against lefty Tom Gorzelanny, who has an 0.81 ERA and a 2-1 record against the Cubs.
They left the bases loaded in the second inning after falling behind 1-0 in the first. The Pirates scored twice in the second on an RBI single by Ronny Paulino and a run-scoring double by Jack Wilson, who hit a 2-run homer off Hill in the sixth.
In the top of the third, Derrek Lee singled with two outs but was tagged out after rounding second too far on Aramis Ramirez's single that hit Gorzelanny. The Cubs also made 2 errors, forcing to Piniella to point to sloppy play for the first time in awhile.
The Cubs totaled 9 hits and left 10 on base, including 3 more in the eighth, when they had a faint pulse.
"I talked about the fact that we better start hitting the ball," Piniella said through gritted teeth. "We'll find out. It's hard to win with 1 run. I don't know what we can do. We'll run the same people out there, and see if they can get it done. Sooner or later, they've got to start hitting.
"I don't know what you can chalk it up to. Just chalk it up to the fact that we got beat 6-1 and leave it at that."
While Hill attributed his failings to getting "away from the game plan" and trying "to invent things out there when things were kind of going south," a key offensive player voiced some frustration after the team's fourth loss in five games.
"I don't know," said leadoff man Alfonso Soriano, who was 0-for-5. "I don't know if it's a slump of the team or Gorzelanny pitched good. I think we got a little frustration today."
Pirates 6, Cubs 1
At the plate: The Cubs did little with Pirates lefty Tom Gorzelanny, who worked a quiet 7 innings. Derrek Lee singled and doubled, as did Geovany Soto. Mark DeRosa was the lone Cubs hitter to show consistent patience, with 2 walks.
On the mound: Lefty Rich Hill failed to turn in a quality start for a second straight game after posting 3 straight. Hill worked 6 innings, giving up 9 hits and 6 runs. Kevin Hart, Kerry Wood and Scott Eyre gave up 2 hits the rest of the way.
-- Bruce Miles