Cubs fall hard, and out of 1st
PITTSBURGH -- Back in 1998, Steve Trachsel and Kerry Wood played big roles in the Cubs winning the National League wild card.
The Cubs are trying to win the NL Central this year, but in Sunday's 10-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the veteran pitchers looked more like a couple of old rockers on a nostalgia tour.
Trachsel gave up 6 runs in the second inning and exited after that as he fell to 0-2 with a 10.12 ERA in 2 starts with the Cubs. Wood allowed a 7-5 Pirates lead grow to 10-5 in the eighth as he walked two and gave up 2 hits, getting charged with 3 runs.
Most important, the Cubs fell out of first place for the first time since Aug. 16. With Milwaukee beating Cincinnati 10-5 Sunday, the Brewers (73-69) moved 1 game ahead of the Cubs (72-70) in the NL Central.
Cubs manager Lou Piniella was philosophical on that point.
"Let's not get too down about this loss," said Piniella, whose team is 12-15 since winning the first two games at Colorado Aug. 9-10 and 15-21 since hitting their high-water mark at eight games over .500 on Aug. 1.
"Pittsburgh's been playing well, and we've still got 20 games to go to do something. Whether you win today's game or lose it, if you don't play well in the last 20 games, this one's not going to make much difference."
Of more immediate concern is whether Trachsel gets another start. After the Cubs scored twice in the top of the second inning on Jason Kendall's single, the Pirates batted around in the home half, picking up 6 hits. The final 3 runs came home when Freddy Sanchez's bases-loaded liner got past center fielder Jacque Jones and went all the way to the wall.
Sanchez was thrown out at the plate trying for an inside-the-park home run, but the damage was done.
"Location, mostly," Trachsel said. "The ball was up in the zone. Working behind in the count. That's pretty much it. I was one pitch away a number of times. I just wasn't able to make the one pitch."
Piniella said he's not sure what the Cubs will do with Trachsel on the upcoming schedule.
"We've got to think about this," the manager said. "I don't know what we're going to do. We'll know in the next couple of days. There's no sense rushing to any decisions about anything."
The Cubs tried to play catch-up the rest of the game. Alfonso Soriano, who popped out with two men on to end the second, hit his 24th home run of the year in the fifth, a 2-run drive to center off Matt Morris with the Cubs down 7-2. Geovany Soto's first big-league homer in the seventh brought the Cubs within 7-5.
Wood was the seventh reliever of the day for the Cubs when he came on in the eighth. Wood walked Steve Pearce before giving up a single to Ronny Paulino. A walk to Jack Wilson loaded the bases for pinch hitter Jose Castillo, and he chased Wood with a 2-run double.
"His command is not good," Piniella said of Wood. "He's getting behind on all these hitters and having to come in with fastballs. He's getting hit. You've got to get ahead of the hitters, and he hasn't been."
Wood's ERA rose from 3.68 to 5.52.
"I was just behind in the count to every hitter and couldn't find the strike zone," said Wood, who insisted he's feeling fine as he continues his comeback from shoulder rehab. "I actually felt great. I threw great in the pen warming up. I just didn't throw strikes."
Piniella summed up the Cubs' situation like this: "If we play well enough, we'll get a chance to get back on top. If not, it's not going to matter."