Raley pinned with ‘L’ in debut
Get used to a few things with the Cubs for the rest of this season.
One is a lot of losing. After going on their little run before the trading deadline, a dismantled and suddenly young Cubs squad now is back on a pace to challenge the 100-loss mark.
If Cubs fans buy into what team president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer are doing, they’ll bite the bullet and live with the losses.
One other thing to get used to is rookie Brooks Raley in the starting rotation.
Raley made his major-league debut Tuesday night and got hit around by the San Diego Padres, who scored 4 runs in the third inning and 3 more in the fourth to take a 7-0 lead.
The Cubs rallied to pull within 3 runs, but that was it as they lost 7-4. It was the Cubs’ seventh straight defeat.
Raley, 24, was selected from Class AAA Iowa to take the place of Matt Garza, who went on the disabled list with a “stress reaction” in his right elbow.
Garza is out indefinitely, so Raley figures to get a decent look.
“I think he’ll get a few starts,” manager Dale Sveum told reporters before the game. “I don’t think you add a guy to the roster just for a one-game audition.
“He’s a guy that can do certain things with a baseball, a four-pitch guy, that you’ve got to give a look the last seven weeks of the season.”
Raley was the Cubs’ minor-league pitcher for the month for July. Between stops at Class AA Tennessee and Iowa, he was 6-10 with a 3.58 ERA.
After leaving runners on base in the first two innings against the Padres, Raley threw 31 pitches in the third inning, with Chase Headley and Everth Cabrera each hitting 2-run singles.
Carlos Quentin crushed a 3-run homer in the fourth to give the Padres their 7-0 lead.
Raley wound up pitching 4 innings, giving up 8 hits and 7 runs while walking thee and striking out four.
Tuesday’s rough debut aside, Sveum told reporters he likes what he knows about the young pitcher, who was a sixth-round draft choice in 2009 out of Texas A&M.
“He’s a pretty poised kid that can make things happen,” Sveum said. “Hopefully he’s just keeping the ball down. We’ve all been impressed with him. That’s why he’s here.”
The Cubs didn’t have all of their young players in the lineup.
Brett Jackson moved back to the second spot in the order after leading off Monday. In his first at-bat, he struck out for the sixth consecutive time before walking in the fourth.
Third baseman Josh Vitters did not start for the second time in his first three games, with Luis Valbuena playing third.
Left fielder Alfonso Soriano was a late lineup scratch because of soreness in his right hand. Soriano was accidentally spiked sliding into second base Monday.
bmiles@dailyherald.com