Road not so friendly for Cubs

HOUSTON -- In theory, the plan sounded like a good one.

Cubs manager Lou Piniella sat the suddenly cold Alfonso Soriano, put Kosuke Fukudome up to the No. 2 spot in the order, and gave a start to rookie Micah Hoffpauir.

Piniella also kept Derrek Lee and his hot bat in the lineup and said he'd start "rotating" his players in and out during the coming weeks.

Those guys who stayed in the lineup did just fine in Wednesday night's first inning, giving the Cubs a 3-0 lead over the Astros.

But the offense shut down after that, and rookie pitcher Sean Gallagher made one key mistake, and it led to a 5-3 victory for the Astros, who took two of three in this series.

The loss dropped the Cubs to 28-19. Of particular concern is the road record. The Cubs are 19-8 at Wrigley Field but just 9-11 on the road.

"You know what? You take a look at the records in the National League Central," Piniella said. "No team at home has a losing record. That tells you something. So it's not that easy going on the road. You've got to hold on to leads.

"When you get leads, you've got to tack on some runs. Unfortunately, the last couple of games, we haven't been able to do that."

Fukudome made Piniella look good with a one-out walk in the first. Lee followed immediately with his 11th homer of the year, a drive to left against Shawn Chacon (1-0).

One out later, Hoffpauir picked up his first big-league hit, an opposite-field double to left. Geovany Soto drove him home with a double, but that was it. However, Piniella did notice Hoffpauir.

"Look, we're looking for some left-hand hitting here that can drive the ball," the manager said. "If this young man can, we'll find a place for him -- in the lineup."

Gallagher worked out of trouble in the first and second. In the third, he already had given up 1 run before hanging an 0-2 slider to Carlos Lee, who rocketed it out to left.

"Execution wasn't there," said Gallagher, who fell to 1-1. "I left it right up there over the heart of the plate, and he put a good swing on it. I've just got to be able to control myself on the mound, not jump out there, not start to get ahead of myself."

Despite Gallagher lasting only 4¿ innings, he's another young player Piniella has noticed.

"Gallagher's got a nice arm," Piniella said. "He's got a better arm than what I thought he had. What I've seen in his couple of starts is his second and third pitches need to improve. Today, he got ahead of the hitters consistently and couldn't put them away.

"The breaking ball to Lee with 2 strikes, you've got to bounce that ball and try to make him chase a bad pitch. He just hung it up there on a platter. Lee makes $100 million doing those sort of things."

The Astros outhit the Cubs 9-5. It was the second night in a row the Cubs got ahead but lost.

"Houston was a hot team," Derrek Lee said. "I think we should have won one of these last two games. So we need to do a little better job on the road. But I don't think it's like we're terrible on the road."

Astros 5, Cubs 3

At the plate: Derrek Lee gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead in the first inning with a 2-run homer, his 11th of the season. Geovany Soto added an RBI double in the first. Rookie Micah Hoffpauir doubled in the first inning for his first big-league hit, the first of 2 doubles for Hoffpauir.

On the mound: Rookie Sean Gallagher lasted just 4¿ innings, giving up 8 hits and 5 runs. Carlos Lee hit a 3-run homer in Houston's 4-run third.

-- Bruce Miles