Cubs' offense misfires again in 2-1 loss to Cards
Is it any consolation the Cubs avoided back-to-back shutouts for the first time since May 2006?
Micah Hoffpauir's pinch-hit single with two outs in the ninth drove in the Cubs' first run in 18 innings, but that's where their offensive outburst ended Wednesday night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Closer Ryan Franklin struck out pinch-hitting Reed Johnson to strand the tying run on third and preserve the Cardinals' 2-1 victory.
The Cubs (21-17) slid beneath St. Louis (23-17) into third place in the NL Central but remained 3 games behind Milwaukee.
"We've got to get to the point where we're hitting," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said on his pregame radio show. "Look at some of these batting averages. They're too low. These guys are much better than that. I know they're going to get better. It's just a matter of when."
When wasn't Wednesday.
Prior to Hoffpauir's scorched single in the ninth, the Cubs did nothing with their limited opportunities.
• Kosuke Fukudome reached third base with two outs in the first, but Milton Bradley grounded out to Albert Pujols.
• Geovany Soto stood on second with two outs in the second, but Ryan Dempster grounded to Pujols.
• Ryan Theriot sliced a one-out double in the third, but Fukudome flied out and Derrek Lee was caught looking at a Chris Carpenter curveball.
The Cubs didn't deliver another hit until Aaron Miles' pinch-hit single leading off the eighth. Miles, predictably, never got the chance to budge from first.
Carpenter, making his first appearance since straining an oblique muscle swinging a bat April 14, finessed his way through 5 innings to earn his second win since the 2006 World Series.
Carpenter had Alfonso Soriano flailing wildly at curveballs as he struck out in the first and fifth. Soriano also fanned in the eighth against Jason Motte's 97-mph fastball.
The offense's struggles wasted Ryan Dempster's third terrific start in May. He allowed just 6 hits and 2 intentional walks in his 7 innings but fell victim to St. Louis small ball.
Pujols led off the fourth with a hard-hit double Theriot would have fielded had it not taken a bad hop in the dirt.
Yadier Molina sacrificed Pujols to third, and Lou Piniella elected to bring in the infield. Chris Duncan singled past second baseman Bobby Scales (who wouldn't have prevented the run playing deep) to make it 1-0.
Duncan opened the seventh with a bloop double, which doubled as the first ball Dempster allowed to go into the outfield on the fly. Brian Barden sacrificed Duncan to third and Khalil Greene brought him in with a sacrifice fly.
Lindsey Willhite's game tracker
Remember when? The Cubs waited until two outs in the ninth to score, avoiding the franchise's first consecutive shutouts since May 4-5, 2006. Some immortals in those lineups? Juan Pierre, Freddie Bynum, Todd Walker (batting cleanup), Jacque Jones and Neifi Perez.
Ground control: Until Chris Duncan's bloop double to start the seventh that led to the game's deciding run, Cubs starter Ryan Dempster didn't allow any batted balls to go into the outfield on the fly. In the first six innings, Dempster picked up 3 strikeouts, allowed 1 lineout and generated 14 groundball outs.
RIP RISP: The Cubs went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Micah Hoffpauir's two-out RBI single in the ninth was the only success.