Cubs break out of funk, pound Brewers 15-3
Call them whatever you like - "also-rans" or "spoilers," - but the Cubs will gladly take Wednesday's 15-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs snapped a seven-game losing streak and finally came out on the long end of a lopsided outcome after they had dropped games by the scores of 18-1, 17-2 and 8-1 during the skid.
"I feels good to be on the other side of those big innings," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, referring to a 6-run sixth inning that erased a 3-1 deficit. The Cubs (47-61) take Thursday off before trying to play spoiler this weekend to the Cincinnati Reds.
"Spoilers?" Piniella asked. "We're going to be playing teams that are certainly competing for postseason. So if that's the definition of a spoiler, let it be."
The Cubs finally broke their pattern of failing to hit with men in scoring position as they went 8-for-12 in that department.
In the 6-run sixth, they chased Brewers starting pitcher Manny Parra by bating around. They got RBI singles from Geovany Soto (5 RBI on the day), Blake DeWitt (4 RBI) and Jeff Baker before Aramis Ramirez capped the inning with a 3-run pinch homer off Todd Coffey.
"We still got two months; we still got a chance," said Ramirez, who has 16 homers.
The Cubs added 3 more in the seventh on Soto's 3-run homer and 5 more in the eighth, as DeWitt hit his first Cubs homer, a 3-run shot to right.
"It felt good, especially after those first 2 strikeouts," said DeWitt, who came to the Cubs Saturday from the Dodgers in the Ted Lilly trade. "It's definitely good to put the ball in play and make something happen. We battled today, good on both ends of the ball. Great pitching, great hitting, and it's a fun game."
The pitching came from starter Ryan Dempster, who improved to 9-8 with a 3.76 ERA by working 6 innings, giving up 3 unearned runs.
Dempster took the trade of Lilly hard, and he asked reporters in Colorado not to badger him about it. Now the undisputed leader of the pitching staff, he did handle an inquiry about it Wednesday.
"I think sometimes when you play with different people along the way - with Teddy, I always appreciated him every day, for what a teammate he was and what a competitor he was, probably more than anything," Dempster said. "I always thought I was the most competitive person out there. I never thought I'd find anybody more competitive until I found him.
"We pushed each other as individuals to do the best we could to help our team. The 31/2 years I played with him were as good a time as I had playing baseball, and I learned as much from him as I'm sure he learned from me. I probably learned more from him. It was such an honor, not only as a baseball player, but as a human being, to be around him every day."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Bruce Miles' game tracker</p>
<p class="News">Cubs 15, Brewers 3</p>
<p class="News"><b>Welcome:</b> Second baseman Blake Dewitt hit his first homer as a Cub and his second of the year, a 3-run homer in the eighth. "The energy in this stadium is pretty neat," he said. "The stadium's special, and it's definitely an honor to play here."</p>
<p class="News"><b>Brewing wins:</b> Cubs starter Ryan Dempster extended a personal winning streak over Milwaukee to five games. He walked three and struck out five in 6 innings, giving up 3 unearned runs. </p>
<p class="News"><b>In a pinch:</b> Aramis Ramirez came off the bench to hit a 3-run pinch homer in the sixth. It was the second pinch homer of his career. The first came June 14, 2002 when he was with the Pirates. </p>
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