Cubs can't come through in clutch
There were many plots, subplots, causes and effects Friday in the Cubs' 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on a rare warm afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Take your pick: poor execution, not hitting with runners in scoring position and a bad pitch here or there.
The larger point is that the Cubs had a whole bunch of chances to win this game and didn't.
“Many, numerous,” said manager Mike Quade, whose team is 14-17. “You're not going to beat the Cincinnati Reds or probably anybody at this level if you don't take advantage of the chances that we had. You make a few mistakes pitching. You don't take advantage of numerous mistakes offensively or do much with chances offensively, don't execute late. Usually, it's a bad loss, and you're going to get beat, and we did.”
Let's break this one down into a two-act play.
Act I, Scene II:Cubs starting pitcher Matt Garza gave up a 3-run homer to Jay Bruce in the fourth inning to put the Reds up 3-1. That's going to happen on a day when the wind is blowing across toward right field, where Bruce hit it. The Cubs came within a run in the bottom of the inning, but the difference came in the top of the fifth. Garza gave up a leadoff double to No. 8 hitter Paul Janish to start the inning, but after a sacrifice and a groundout, he had a chance to get out of it on very few pitches. But Garza walked Edgar Renteria after getting ahead 1-2 in the count. That's never a good thing, given the Cincinnati lineup. Joey Votto singled home a run, as did Brandon Phillips.#8220;You shouldn't walk a guy with two outs,#8221; said Garza, who fell to 1-4 with a 4.43 ERA. #8220;But it's not the key at-bat. The key at-bat was the 3-run homer to Bruce.#8221;Quade couldn't pick out any one key.#8220;There were so many keys, to me,#8221; he said. #8220;It was obviously a very frustrating day for everybody. It ain't good, but it's far from hopeless, man.#8221;Act II, Scene IThe Cubs entered the bottom of the sixth trailing 5-3. Marlon Byrd singled and Carlos Pena drew his third walk to chase Reds starter Edinson Volquez. Reds manager Dusty Baker turned to the bullpen and righty Sam LeCure. Geovany Soto promptly singled home a run, and pinch hitter Reed Johnson was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out and the top of the order coming up. The Cubs did a big fade-to-black as Kosuke Fukudome was called out on strikes, Darwin Barney popped out and Starlin Castro grounded out. The Cubs ended the day 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and now are 57-for-265 (.215) in that key category.#8220;We just keep creating a bunch of opportunities and someone eventually, hopefully many eventually, will get hot, and we'll start driving some people in,#8221; Quade said. Epilogue:Fukudome led off the ninth with a walk against Francisco Cordero. After failing to get a bunt down, Barney lined back to the pitcher, who doubled Fukudome off first. Castro flied out to end the game.#8220;Every little thing, and when you're not scoring runs, it's magnified times 10,#8221; Quade said. #8220;We have no margin for error right now. That's OK. We'll come back tomorrow and see if we can start cleaning up some of this stuff.#8221;