Cubs eke out win despite Dempster
Ryan Dempster was sailing along Monday night with all the run support he appeared to need.
His teammates, who had been on a hitting strike all year long while he was on the mound, gave him 4 runs in the fifth inning to take a 4-0 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
What could go wrong? Plenty. Dempster coughed away the lead in the sixth as the Cardinals scored 4 of their own.
Things ended well enough for the Cubs, who wound up winning 6-4. But Dempster is still without a win, as the victory went to reliever Shawn Camp, who worked 2 solid innings before Rafael Dolis pitched the ninth to earn his fourth save.
Down the stretch, the Cardinals did their share to give the Cubs the lead with miscues in the field.
There also were some curious decisions by Cubs manager Dale Sveum, who got bunt-happy late in the game.
First things first.
Dempster's record held at 0-1, and his ERA rose from 1.02 to 1.74.
"It's all right; baby steps," Dempster told reporters. "We got a win when I started a game. We're playing better, pitching really well, playing good defense, running the bases extremely well, and we're extremely aggressive, and we're getting results because of it.
"Hopefully we keep playing good baseball and climb our way back to .500."
The Cubs are within five games at 15-20.
The big hit in their 4-run fifth inning was a 2-run homer to right by first baseman Bryan LaHair. It was his ninth of the season. By going 3-for-4 with an intentional walk, LaHair has reached base in 31 consecutive games.
"I just wanted to slow things down," LaHair said. "I came off a rough series (1-for-14 in Milwaukee), and I just wanted to get back on track and hit the ball hard and help the team."
Dempster left after the Cardinals' 4-run fifth, having thrown 93 pitches.
Things got a little hairy in the eighth, when the Cubs managed to score a run to take the lead when it looked like they gave away a great chance.
After David DeJesus singled and Tony Campana was safe on a sacrifice bunt and fielder's choice, putting runners at first and second, Sveum elected to bunt with No. 3 hitter Starlin Castro with LaHair on deck and sure to be an intentional-walk candidate.
New-age thinking says you don't give away outs by bunting with the middle of your lineup, but Castro bunted anyway, and bunted into a double play. LaHair indeed was intentionally walked, and only a single by Alfonso Soriano saved the day, scoring the go-ahead run.
The Cubs got another run in the ninth, when the Cardinals made 2 errors.
About the failed bunt, Sveum said he was trying to stay out of the double play.
Good strategy or bad, the Cubs have been awful bunters this year, even after a much-ballyhooed bunting tournament in spring training.
"Some poor bunting, but it wasn't as much the bunting as you have to pull back and slash in those situations when they're charging," Sveum said. "It's hard to get guys to understand that.
"It's something you work on and work on, but it kind of speeds up a little during the game. That's something we have to work on as much as anything because it's such a prevalent part of the game."
bmiles@dailyherald.com