Cubs' offense vanishes in 4-0 loss to Reds

These are the kinds of traps that always seem to catch the Cubs.

They had a chance to take a 1-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals while going up against a Cincinnati Reds pitcher who hadn't won since 2006.

You can figure the rest.

Justin Lehr pitched his first complete game, and the Reds beat the Cubs 4-0 to salvage the finale of this three-game series at the Great American Ball Park.

"The best part of tonight is that we have a day off tomorrow," Cubs manager Lou Piniella told reporters. "We didn't play very well. We had a chance to go into first place by ourselves, and we didn't take advantage of the opportunity."

Instead, they lost to a 32-year-old righty making his second career start. Lehr, who last won May 18, 2006, while with Milwaukee, limited the Cubs to 4 hits.

"There were times I got close, but there's really no rhyme or reason," Lehr told reporters of the elusive victory.

The Cubs sent Rich Harden to the mound, and a 3-run third inning sent Harden back to .500 at 7-7.

Brandon Phillips led off with a single and scored when Scott Rolen launched a homer to left-center. It was Rolen's first swing since he was hit on the head Sunday by a pitch from Colorado's Jason Marquis.

"I'm all right," Rolen said. "Where it actually hit me, I had a knot there and it's still sore to the touch. If I'd have struck out four times, I could have come in (complaining) about not seeing the ball, but now I don't have any excuses."

Later that inning, Harden committed a throwing error on a bunt by Lehr to allow the third run to score. Harden worked 6 innings and struck out nine, but it didn't matter because Lehr shut down the Cubs' offense.

"I didn't have my best stuff today," Harden said. "I was inconsistent. After that, there's not a whole lot to say. It wasn't a pretty game."

The Cubs, who take Thursday off before opening a four-game series at Colorado on Friday, got a double from Harden and singles from Derrek Lee, Milton Bradley and Alfonso Soriano, who immediately got picked off first base in the seventh to kill a possible one-out rally.

Reliever Jeff Samardzija gave up a run to the Reds in the bottom of the seventh.

Bruce Miles' game tracker

Reds 4, Cubs 0

Inauspicious return: Aaron Miles came off the disabled list and started at shortstop in place of Ryan Theriot. Miles was 0-for-3 at the plate and was slow getting rid of the throw on Willy Taveras' seventh-inning grounder. The play went for a hit.

Back to .500: Starting pitcher Rich Harden fell back to .500 at 7-7. It was technically a quality start for Harden, who gave up 3 runs (2 earned) in 6 innings. He walked four and struck out nine.

Lee streak: First baseman Derrek Lee extended his hitting streak to six games by going 1-for-4. Lee is 9-for-27 during the streak.