Cubs' bullpen falters again in 5-4 loss to Reds
CINCINNATI - The Cubs have a toxic mix going right now, and it has nothing to do with clubhouse chemistry.
They suffered another bullpen blowup in Friday night's 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, as rookie reliever Esmailin Caridad walked the first two batters of the eighth inning and later gave up a grand slam to Drew Stubbs as the Reds rallied from a 3-1 deficit.
The Cubs' offense had its chances but stranded 13 runners, two each in the first three innings and three more in the ninth.
And starting pitcher Carlos Silva left under murky circumstances after sailing through 6 innings. Manager Lou Piniella said Silva's shoulder stiffened, but the pitcher said he was ready to take the mound in the seventh.
Since Day 1 of spring training, the bullpen has been the big question mark for the Cubs, and Caridad was the one rookie to whom the Cubs awarded a job early.
"You can't walk people in the eighth inning, you just can't," said Piniella, whose team is 1-3, having suffered 2 blown saves this week. "You can't walk people. He gets 2 strikes on the first hitter and then walks two hitters and then the bunt (single by Chris Dickerson) and then the home run.
"Remember what I said in spring training, everything was fine when we were afternoon, single-deck stadiums? All of a sudden, it gets a little different. We had to see. Well, we haven't seen what we'd like to see, let's put it that way. We had that game in hand."
It could have been way out of hand early. The Cubs scored single runs in the first, third and fourth innings, but left seven on base in that span.
Silva, making his first start as a Cub, allowed a run in the first but kept his pitch counts down, totaling only 71 after 6 innings.
"His shoulder stiffened," Piniella said and then repeated twice.
When asked how his shoulder was, Silva replied: "Good. I was ready to go out. They took me out. I was ready to go out."
He added that the only time he felt stiffness was when he tried to field a groundball earlier in the game and fell to the ground. But even he conceded that he wouldn't have to answer the questions had the Cubs hung on and won.
Justin Berg relieved Silva in the seventh and went 1-2-3. Caridad walked No. 7 hitter Jonny Gomes and No. 8 hitter Ramon Hernandez before pinch hitter Dickerson bunted for a hit.
Stubbs homered to center on a 1-0 pitch. Caridad seemed to blame home-plate umpire Doug Eddings.
"He didn't call strikes," Caridad said. "I throw a strike, and he doesn't call it a strike. I don't know why."
First-base umpire Dana DeMuth called Tyler Colvin out on a bang-bang play at first to start the ninth. Derrek Lee followed with his first homer of the year. The Cubs got a couple of two-out singles and an error, but pinch hitter Chad Tracy grounded out on a checked swing to the pitcher to end the game.
The Cubs can make some bullpen moves when starting pitcher Ted Lilly comes off the disabled list. They also have Jeff Gray waiting in the wings at Class AAA Iowa.
"We've had 3 really nice starts in a row, and we've won one ballgame," Piniella said. "That's not good. That's not good."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker/p>
<p class="News">Reds 5, Cubs 4</p>
<p class="News"><b>Wasted quality: </b>The Cubs got their third quality start in a row, as Carlos Silva worked 6 innings, giving up 3 hits and 1 run. His pitch counts, respectively in each inning, were: 14, 11, 10, 8, 10 and 18. In the 3 quality starts, Cubs pitchers have worked 18 innings, giving up 2 earned runs.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Font of hits:</b> Second baseman Mike Fontenot had 4 singles, including a ninth-inning infield hit that was changed from an error by the scorer.</p>
<p class="News"><b>No walk in the park:</b> Cubs batters drew just 2 walks, 1 by Tyler Colvin and 1 by Xavier Nady, who also was hit by two pitches.</p>
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