Cubs lose as Reds light up Lieber

CINCINNATI -- When Jon Lieber is on, he usually makes quick work of opponents.

Lieber was decidedly off Wednesday, and the Cincinnati Reds made quick work of him in a 9-0 pasting of the Cubs at the Great American Ball Park.

Reds batters hit 4 rapid-fire home runs off Lieber in the second inning, and that was that. Lieber exited the game after 2 innings, and manager Lou Piniella will have to decide whether to give Lieber another start or try righty Sean Gallagher, who gave up only 1 of the 7 homers Cincinnati batters hit Wednesday.

"He (Lieber) got hit pretty hard," said Piniella, whose team fell to 19-15 after a 2-4 road trip. "I saw the end results. I haven't seen the film. I don't know where the balls were located or not. But they hit the ball pretty hard.

"We'll sit on it. We don't need to make a decision right now. But we'll think about it and see what we do."

Lieber (2-2), who worked well out of the bullpen to begin the season, allowed a hit to Jerry Hairston in a scoreless first inning before Joey Votto and Adam Dunn opened the second with home runs. Later that inning, Paul Bako and Hairston homered as the Reds went up 5-0.

"I've just got to execute pitches; I didn't do a very good job of that," Lieber said. "They were aggressive early in the count. I made mistakes that I didn't get away with. They hurt me with them. The last time I remember going through something like that, I think, was my first year here, '99, against the Cardinals."

The 7 home runs given up by the Cubs -- Sean Marshall yielded 2 -- were 1 shy of the club record, set most recently on June 18, 2006, when Mark Prior and Roberto Novoa served up 8 to Detroit.

Votto hit 3 homers and had a chance for a fourth, but he grounded out against Michael Wuertz in the eighth.

"I'm not going to lie; it was in the back of my head," Votto said of a fourth. "I thought if I got a good swing on a good pitch, I had a chance to do some good. In games like this, you don't know why it happens. You just go with the flow, and that's what I did. Today I was going with the flow."

The Cubs have experienced a home run drought lately, hitting just 3 on the six-game trip.

On top of that, their top hitters are in a funk. Derrek Lee was 4-for-24 on the trip. Mark DeRosa was 1-for-13. And rookie sensation Kosuke Fukudome has cooled considerably. He went 4-for-23 over the six games at St. Louis and Cincinnati.

"A little frustrating," said Lee, noting the Cubs' 17-10 record in April. "You don't want to give back what you've gained, but that's what we've done. It happens. Take a day off and try to put it behind you and start fresh on Friday at home."

The Cubs seem to believe the talent is there to keep this slump from prolonging, even with the Arizona Diamondbacks coming to Wrigley Field on Friday.

"That's baseball," Lee said. "You're not going to stay on those peaks. We had a great month, but we've kind of come back down to earth. We just need to regroup and pick it back up. There are still a lot of games to be played."

Reds 9, Cubs 0

At the plate: The Cubs managed just 6 hits. Leadoff man Reed Johnson was 0-for-5 playing in place of Alfonso Soriano in left field. The Cubs left 12 on base and were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

On the mound: Jon Lieber was rocked in his first start of the season. He gave up 4 homers in the second inning. He lasted only 2 innings, giving up 7 hits and 5 runs. The only other time a Cubs pitcher has given up 4 homers in an inning came Aug. 8, 2000, when Phil Norton gave up 4 at Dodger Stadium. Sean Marshall gave up a pair of homers, and Sean Gallagher gave up 1 homer, Joey Votto's third of the game. Wednesday marked the seventh game since 1960 that the Cubs allowed 7 or more homers.

-- Bruce Miles