Hamilton homer sinks Cubs
Pinch hitter Josh Hamilton hit a two-run, tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning and the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Cubs 11-9 Wednesday night.
Ryan Jorgensen, Jeff Conine and Adam Dunn homered for the Reds, who have won six of their last nine games.
Jason Kendall and Aramis Ramirez homered for the Cubs, who have lost 10 of 13.
The Cubs remained 1ˆ¨ games behind first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central. The Brewers lost 8-3 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.
The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 31 minutes by rain.
With one out in the eighth, Jorgensen singled off Cubs reliever Bob Howry (5-7). Hamilton followed with his second pinch-hit homer of the season and 15th overall.
Bill Bray (1-0) pitched two scoreless inning for the victory. David Weathers pitched a scoreless ninth for his 24th save in 29 opportunities.
Ramirez broke a 6-all tie in the fourth with his 18th homer off reliever Victor Santos.
After a double by Ryan Theriot in the fifth, Kendall homered off Santos to make 9-6. It was Kendall's first homer with the Cubs since being traded from Oakland on July 16. He has three on the season.
Cubs reliever Michael Wuertz came in with a three-run lead in the sixth. He was greeted by Dunn with a solo shot to right on the first pitch. Conine followed with an infield single and scored from first on a double by Edwin Encarnacion. Scott Hatteberg's sacrifice fly tied the game at 6.
In his first major league at-bat of the season, Jorgensen put the Reds ahead in the second with a two-run shot off Cubs starter Ted Lilly. He was called up on Tuesday from Triple-A Louisville to replace catcher David Ross, who is on the disabled list with a concussion.
Trailing 2-0 in the second inning, the Cubs got consecutive doubles from Jake Fox, Matt Murton and Jacque Jones to tie the score. Two outs later, Kendall drove in Jones with another double to put the Cubs up 3-2.
The Reds came back to take the lead in the third inning on an RBI single by Ken Griffey Jr. and Conine's three-run homer to left. It was Conine's sixth of the season and put the Reds ahead 6-3.
Lilly came into the game having won eight of his last nine starts. He pitched five innings and gave up six runs and six hits. He struck out five and walked two.
In his third major league start, Phil Dumatrait gave up four runs, five hits and four walks.
Notes: The Reds put SS Alex Gonzalez on the bereavement list and replaced him with INF Mark Bellhorn. Bellhorn went to Triple-A Louisville after being designated for assignment by the Reds after Sunday's game. ... Fox got his first major league hit with his double in the second inning. ... Hopper has an 11-game hitting streak.