Cubs bullpen lets down Wells in 6-5 extra inning loss
The beer will have to stay on ice.
Instead of basking in the customary beer shower after the first major-league victory, Cubs pitcher Randy Wells probably wanted to hit something a little harder Tuesday night after watching the team's allegedly best relievers blow a seemingly safe lead as the Cubs fell 6-5 to the Atlanta Braves in 12 innings.
"That's baseball," Wells said. "Stuff will happen. You can't sulk."
Carlos Marmol suffered command problems again, and closer Kevin Gregg allowed a game-tying home run to Jeff Francoeur in the ninth as the Cubs frittered away a 5-0 lead in the eighth.
In the 12th, Chipper Jones hit a one-out single off Aaron Heilman to drive home Yunel Escobar with the winning run.
Not only did Wells appear ready to celebrate his first win as a big-league pitcher, he had something even more special going on most of the night.
Wells zipped through the first 10 Braves batters before hitting Escobar (although replays showed the ball hit the bat), and it wasn't until Jones singled with two outs in the seventh inning that Wells allowed a hit.
Wells, whose ERA fell to 1.69 despite an 0-2 record, took a pitch count of only 72 into the eighth, when he gave up a leadoff homer to Garret Anderson. After an error by Derrek Lee, Piniella removed Wells in favor of Marmol, who walked two, hit one batter and gave up a sacrifice fly.
Gregg got one out in the eighth before uncorking a wild pitch, which turned into a dropped third strike to Anderson, setting the stage for Francoeur's homer one out later.
"With a 5-run lead in the eighth inning, it shouldn't get away," Cubs manager Lou Piniella told reporters after the game. "We gave that one to them, with a nice little ribbon."
The Cubs (25-25) got a quick lead for Wells in the first, when Alfonso Soriano led off with his 13th home run of the year and the 54th leadoff homer of his career, putting him into second place all time.
It became 2-0 in the second on an unearned run before the Cubs got another injury scare from Milton Bradley, who suffered a strained right calf trying to beat out a high chopper in the fourth.
Bradley already missed much of April with a groin strain, suffered running the bases.
Derrek Lee, who, hit an RBI doubled in the sixth, homered in the eighth to give the Cubs their 5-0 lead.
Bruce Miles' game tracker
First and second: Alfonso Soriano's game-opening home run was the 54th of his career, breaking a second-place tie all-time with Craig Biggio. Rickey Henderson is first on the list, with 81 leadoff homers.
Energy efficient: Randy Wells was able to pitch into the eighth inning because of low pitch counts. Innings 1 through 7 went like this, respectively, in pitch counts: 5, 10, 12, 8, 12, 17, 8. Wells wound up with 83 pitches, 58 for strikes.
No-command performance: Reliever Carlos Marmol gave up a run in 1 inning while walking two and hitting one. Marmol has walked 23 and hit five in 24 innings this year.