Angels solve Lilly; Weaver baffles Cubs
Cubs starting pitcher Ted Lilly went from nearly unhittable to virtually unrecognizable in the span of six days.
Lilly didn't allow a hit to the White Sox last Sunday until the ninth inning on his 108th pitch, but the left-hander was battered by the Los Angeles Angels Saturday for 8 runs (6 earned) on 9 hits in 104 pitches. He didn't make it out of the sixth inning of a 12-0 loss in front of 40,008 restless fans at Wrigley Field.
It was a rare substandard outing for Lilly, who made 7 consecutive quality starts between May 10 and June 13. But he wasn't the lone culprit in a loss that dropped the Cubs to a season-worst 8 games below .500 (30-38) for the third time in a week.
The offense managed only 2 hits against Angels starting pitcher Jered Weaver (7-3) and reliever Scot Shields, and the defense committed 2 more errors. The Cubs have made 11 errors in their last five games and 5 errors in two losses to the Angels. The thorough whipping in all three phases of the game raised manager Lou Piniella's frustration level near to his boiling point.
"I can see us struggling with the bats, but we just can't catch the ball all the sudden," Piniella said. "I mean, that's something you should be able to do at the big-league level is catch the ball with consistency.
"What am I supposed to do, yell and scream? Criticize people? That doesn't do any good. You've got to go out and play on the field. That's all you can do, play on the field. And if not, you're going to get embarrassed like we did."
The Cubs skipper said he's out of ideas as to how to spark this team.
"We've tried everything we have here," Piniella added. "We've pitched everybody, we've played everybody, we've changed lineups. We've done everything that I can humanly do to get this thing turned around. That's all I can do."
Any prospect of a repeat no-hit bid by Lilly went by the wayside on the fourth pitch of the game, when Howie Kendrick took advantage of an 11-mph crosswind and deposited a 2-1 offering into the right-field basket for an opposite-field home run. Hits by Kevin Frandsen and Bobby Abreu and a walk by Mike Napoli loaded the bases for Juan Rivera, who cleared them with a one-out double to the center-field wall.
The 4-0 deficit after half an inning spelled almost certain doom for the Cubs, who average 4.15 runs per game and have scored 2 runs or less in 10 of Lilly's 11 starts this season.
"When the starting pitcher goes out there and puts us in a hole like that, it makes it awfully tough, that's for sure," Lilly said.
The Angels made the uphill climb steeper by adding 2 runs in the fifth inning for a 6-0 lead. Torii Hunter followed an Abreu single with a line-drive home run to the bleachers in left-center.
Lilly was lifted with one out in the sixth after he allowed 2 more hits and made a throwing error on a fielder's choice at second base. The Angels tacked on 2 more runs in the inning, another in the seventh and 3 more runs in the ninth against Bob Howry.
Meanwhile, Weaver dominated in his first career start at Wrigley Field. He won for the fourth time in 5 starts and his 11 strikeouts put him atop the American League in that category with 107.
"I love pitching in old parks. It's a great environment," Weaver said. "I just wanted to go out there and make pitches and obviously the guys put up a four-spot in the first, so it took a lot of pressure off me."
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Jerry Fitzpatrick's game tracker</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Angels 12, Cubs 0</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Two-hitter: The Cubs were held to 2 hits by Angels starter Jered Weaver, who struck out 11 without issuing a walk in 7 innings. Mike Fontenot's two-out single in the second inning snapped a personal 0-for-8 streak dating back to June 6 at Houston. Marlon Byrd's fourth-inning single gave the center fielder at least 1 hit in 43 of the 67 games in which he has played.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">First-inning deficit: Ted Lilly allowed 4 runs in the first inning, an unusual occurrence for the veteran. In his previous 10 starts, Lilly had allowed only 1 run in the first inning. Howie Kendrick opened the barrage with a solo home run, his first career leadoff homer.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">By a wide margin: The 12-0 defeat tied the Cubs largest losing margin of the season. The other 12-run loss came against Cincinnati on May 8, a 14-2 defeat.</p>