Eighth-inning collapse sinks Cubs
The Cubs found themselves in a tight ballgame against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
Until the eighth inning, that is, when the Pirates scored 5 runs before the first out was even made.
The Pirates ended up beating the Cubs 8-4.
Things started well for the Cubs, as shortstop Starlin Castro hit a solo homer in the first.
The Pirates scored twice in the third, on a solo homer from Starling Marte, and on a balk by Cubs starter Travis Wood.
The scored stayed at 2-1 until the Pirates’ eighth-inning rally.
Wood pitched until the sixth. After relief stints from Manny Corpas and James Russell, Shawn Camp started the eighth inning.
The Pirates produced 7 straight hits against Camp, scoring 5 runs.
“I guess sometimes the law of averages will catch up to you,” said Cubs manager Dale Sveum of Camp’s struggles. “He’s been pretty good all year; I don’t even know if he’s had one of those all year. He’s had a couple 2-runs or something like that, but not a quick 5-spot like that, that’s for sure.”
Rookie Alberto Cabrera, called up from Iowa earlier in the day, replaced Camp and made his major-league debut. And Cabrera made it look easy, getting three straight outs to finish the eighth.
“It was nice to see Cabrera and his stuff today,” said Sveum, “and obviously the power-out pitch he had today was awesome.”
The Cubs switched pitchers one last time in the ninth, and Carlos Marmol allowed the final Pirates run.
In the bottom half, the Cubs finally gave their fans something to cheer about. Right fielder Bryan LaHair doubled and scored on second baseman Jeff Baker’s triple. Baker then scored on catcher Welington Castillo’s homer.
Baker started at second base as the Cubs held out Darwin Barney, who was hit in the helmet by a pitch from A.J. Burnett in the eighth inning Tuesday night, as a precautionary measure.
Baker had an injury scare of his own in the seventh inning when he went for a groundball and rolled his body over his left wrist.
“No one really likes to roll up over their wrist,” he said. “Out there when I first did it, you know, it kind of grabbed a little bit and it was pretty stiff there. But it got better when it went on.”