Quade questions Gomez’s thefts

Cubs manager Mike Quade is an old-school type, and he was doing his best to be diplomatic Sunday about a series of events in Saturday night’s game.

But it seemed pretty clear Quade was not happy with the Brewers’ Carlos Gomez stealing second and third with Milwaukee leading 5-0. Old-school baseball etiquette frowns upon teams running when up by more than a grand-slam margin late in games.

“I think everybody’s got to make their own decisions on that,” Quade said. “There are unwritten rules. Since they’re unwritten, I guess that the decision on what they are and when they apply is left ambiguous. That’s just a really fast guy. I guess he wanted to steal a couple of bases. That’s their decision. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke told the Milwaukee media his team did nothing wrong. His outlook was decidedly more new-school.

“Up 5-0 in the eighth or ninth inning, I don’t worry about it one bit,” Roenicke said. “Today’s game is not 20 years ago. You can get 5 runs in one inning. ... People used to say you’re not supposed to run in the seventh, eighth or ninth when you’re up by more than a grand slam.

“That is completely out of this game today. It’s not even close. So for me, it’s not even an issue. If that’s brought up, it’s from people that really don’t understand today’s game.

Working on it:

Cubs pitching coach Mark Riggins was working with reliever Jeff Samardzija in the bullpen early Sunday. Samardzija walked four in the eighth inning Saturday night.

“It’s another situation where he’s going to be as good as his ability to hit the glove, period,” Mike Quade said. “His stuff is plenty good enough to be successful here. But you’ve got to locate it. You’ve got to locate it well.

“He’s got to locate it consistently down. He can elevate for effect. Until he does that, he’s going to struggle. And he knows that. Whether it’s a mechanical thing, whether it’s mental, whether it’s a combination of the two, he’s just got to fall in love with the catcher’s glove. Period.”

Fukudome hurting:

Right fielder Kosuke Fukudome left the game in the sixth inning after making a lunging catch on Yuniesky Betancourt’s sinking flyball in the fifth.

It was Fukudome’s second good catch of the game, but he strained his left hamstring on the play and had to come out for pinch hitter Alfonso Soriano in the sixth.

“It’s not much, but I felt like I couldn’t play 100 percent,” said Fukudome, who had the leg wrapped. “When I caught it, I felt the pull.”

The Cubs said they hope the strain is mild and that they’ll know more Monday.

“It’s one of those things where he makes a nice play, and you almost wish he would have left his feet because a dive would have probably not resulted in the injury,” said Mike Quade.