Tigers roll past Cubs despite big day from Fox

The Cubs' lack of hitting, and especially their failure to hit with runners in scoring position has been an ongoing problem, as manager Lou Piniella lamented once again before Thursday afternoon's 6-5 loss to the Tigers at sold-out Comerica Park.

"We're working hard at it," Piniella said on WGN Radio. "We've got a new hitting coach (Von Joshua). "We're giving them the message but, unfortunately, you have to do it on the field. We can talk about this 'til the cows come home, but 'til you experience some success, it's tough. It's tough watching."

The cows came home early for the Cubs, as Jake Fox hammered his first homer, a 3-run shot in the first inning. That blast ended a 1-for-31 Cubs drought with runners in scoring position.

But Ted Lilly, who has been the most consistent of the Cubs' outstanding starting pitchers this season, couldn't hold the lead against the streaking Tigers (41-31), who won their seventh straight. Lilly suffered through his worst outing of the year, allowing season highs of 6 runs and 10 hits in 6 innings.

Lilly leads the Cubs with 11 quality starts and came in with a 3.04 ERA, but he saw his record slip to 7-5 as the Cubs lost their fourth straight, plummeting to 34-35 heading into the three-game weekend series against the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

The Cubs were without Aaron Miles, who had been penciled in as a starter but was unavailable because of swelling and fluid in his elbow. Reed Johnson is on the disabled list with back spasms, and his replacement, Ryan Freel, did not arrive from his rehab assignment at Triple-A Iowa in time for the game.

That just added to Piniella's frustration with a team that is dead last in the majors with a .219 batting average with runners in scoring position.

"Every day it seems like there's something a little different that goes wrong here," Piniella said. "I've been doing this a long time, and I've never really seen some of the things that have happened here on such a continuous basis."

After the Tigers closed to within 3-2, the Cubs added a run in the fourth when Kosuke Fukudome's triple scored Mike Fontenot. The Tigers took the lead for good, 5-4 in the bottom of the fourth, and tacked on their final run in the sixth.

Micah Hoffpauir's solo shot leading off the ninth got the Cubs within a run. Jake Fox and Fontenot struck out, but Fukudome doubled before pinch-hitter Geovany Soto also whiffed to end another bad day for the Cubs, and especially for Soto, who admitted Thursday that he tested positive for marijuana during the World Baseball Classic in March, which comes with a two-year ban from international competition but will not affect major-league status (see separate story).

Bob LeGere's game tracker

Successful tinkering: Starting designated hitter Jake Fox came up big, going 3-for-4 with a single and double to go with his first big-league homer. Micah Hoffpauir, who started in place of Milton Bradley in right field, whacked his seventh homer.

Et tu Lee? Hot-hitting Derrek Lee (National League-best .375 average since May 16), whose offense has carried the Cubs in recent weeks, saw his 21-game hitting streak end with an 0-for-4 afternoon. Lee's 31-game streak of reaching base was also snapped.

Unfriendly confines: The Cubs fell to 13-22 on the road for a winning percentage of .371. They are 21-13 at Wrigley Field, a winning percentage of .618.