New pitcher, but same old result for Cubs
Welcome to the club, Thomas Diamond.
Actually, it's welcome to several clubs, not all of them the rookie wanted to join.
The 27-year-old pitched creditably Tuesday night in a 4-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.
Diamond joined one exclusive club by recording 10 strikeouts in his 6 innings of work. He became the second Cub in 90 years to reach double digits in his major-league debut. The other was Mark Prior, on May 22, 2002.
The not-so-exclusive club is that of Cubs pitchers who throw a quality start this year and don't have a win to show for it. Diamond gave up 7 hits and 3 runs, becoming the first Cubs starter since Ryan Dempster on July 25 to record a quality start.
Largely because of a non-supportive offense, the Cubs are just 35-29 in games the pitcher gives them a quality start.
"Positives out of a loss?" said manager Lou Piniella, whose team is 46-61. "We played hard and made some nice plays. Again, we get people on, and we just don't get them in. That's been a reoccurring theme. Outside of that, our bullpen did a respectable job, and we competed well."
Those are moral victories, and Piniella said he doesn't want any part of those.
"I'm not into moral victories, I'll be honest with you," he said. "Moral victories are good on Sunday. I like the real wins, you know? It's good to go out there and be competitive, but moral victories? I think that's OK for a Little League coach."
The Brewers, who scored 18 runs in the series opener, pushed across single runs in the first, third, fourth and seventh innings.
Diamond looked to mix pitches well, but if he had any downfall, it was that he ran his pitch count up to 122 by going to a lot of deep counts.
"All right," he said of his performance. "I was a little shaky. I walked a few people and threw a lot of pitches. I just tried to give them everything I had."
The good news for Diamond is that he'll get another start, on Sunday, according to Piniella.
"Oh, definitely, that's some good news," he said. "Hopefully, I can improve on this one and may be throw a few more innings with a few less pitches."
Things began well enough for Diamond, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound right-hander out of Plano, Texas.
He struck out Rickie Weeks and Corey Hart to start the game. However, Diamond walked Ryan Braun and gave up a single to Prince Fielder before Casey McGehee singled home Braun. Diamond averted further trouble by striking out Jim Edmonds.
The Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the first. Starlin Castro singled with one out. He scored on Derrek Lee's single to the right field corner. Lee fell rounding first base and could make it no farther.
The Cubs wound up 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and they stranded nine, including two in the eighth, when the first two runners reached.
<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p>
<p class="News">Brewers 4, Cubs 3</p>
<p class="News"><b>Byrd takes flight:</b> Cubs center fielder Marlon Byrd made two diving catches. He went into left-center in the seventh to snag Casey McGehee's sacrifice fly. In the eighth, he went the opposite way to rob Alcides Escobar with a dive. </p>
<p class="News"><b>Remember him?</b> Kosuke Fukudome hit a pinch homer in the seventh to bring the Cubs within 4-2. It was his second career pinch homer and first this year. </p>
<p class="News"><b>Falling short:</b> Mike Fontenot doubled as a pinch hitter leading off the bottom of the ninth. He scored one out later on Starlin Castro's single. However, Castro fell between first and second bases and was tagged out. </p>
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<li><a href="/story/?id=398383">0 Piniella preaches patience with young pitchers and their growing pains <span class="date"> [8/3/10]</span></a></li>
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