5/24/08 @ Pirates; L 4-5; (29-20)

The Cubs were at PNC Park again tonight, looking to create a win streak. A win against the Pirates would put them eleven games above .500. These teams are playing for the eleventh time this year. The Cubs dominance has cast a rather negative pall on the Pirates. Take away the ten games against each other, and the Pirates are 21-17 and the Cubs are 20-18. These are TWO decent teams, who through a quirk of scheduling, will have seen each other a dozen times in their first 50 games when they finish up on Sunday.

The Cubs will have played 33 of those games within their division. That ends tomorrow as they go on a streak of 36 games outside the division. They won’t return to NL Central competition until July 4th against the Cardinals.

Dumatrait and Marquis gave up only two hits apiece through three innings to start this game. We were scoreless to start the fourth, but that was as far as that went.

Derek Lee started the fourth inning with a drive to center field that bounced on the warning track for a double. Aramis Ramirez then roped a ball to right field, but Jason Michaels made a great diving catch, which had he missed would have allowed for extra bases for Aramis. Proved to be a nice play as Geovony Soto doubled to drive in Lee right after that, and give the Cubs the lead.

That lead didn’t last long. In the bottom of the fourth, Marquis walked Nate McLouth with one out. Jason Bay followed that up with a two run shot to left center.

Theriot led off the sixth with a line drive up the middle that, unfortunately for both Theriot and Dumatrait, hit Dumatrait on the knee. While it may have hurt the Pittsburgh hurler for a while, it caromed to first base for an easy out for Theriot. That was a save for Pittsburgh, because the Cubs ended up loading the bases that inning. If Theriot’s ball goes through, that ends up a run for the Cubs. Fukudome walked on a 3-2 pitch that could have easily been called a strike. The bases loaded forced a pitching change, and then DeRosa struck out looking. Wasted opportunity.

The Pirates didn’t waste their opportunity in the sixth. Three straight singles by Bay, LaRoche, and Michaels extended the lead for the Pirates to 3-1. That drove Marquis out of the game. Howry came in and got an inning ending double play.

The Cubs finally broke out in the eighth inning, sending eight hitters to the plate and scoring three runs. Theriot walked, Lee singled, and Ramirez doubled to score both Theriot and Lee. Fukudome singled later that inning to plate Ramirez and give the Cubs a 4-3 lead.

That lead allowed Carlos Marmol to enter the game in the bottom of the eighth with a Cubs lead. Unfortunately, he started with a lead off walk. Then he proceeded to strike out three in a row! I love the emotion he shows after getting the last one looking.

Soriano led of the Cubs half of the ninth with a double, but was promptly picked off on a missed bunt attempt by Theriot. So Kerry Wood came in to the game with a one run lead and the chance to pick up his eleventh save. He started about the same way as Marmol, hitting the first batter of the inning. Please see my previous posts about how games end up when Woody hits the first batter. He followed that up by allowing a single to put the winning run on first with no one out. A well executed sacrifice bunt and both the tying and winning runs were in scoring position. Rivas then hit a line drive to Fukudome, but with the outfield playing shallow, it forced Kosuke to catch it going away from the plate and the tying run scored. McLouth was intentionally walked with good reason. He was the source of the Pirates previous win over the Cubs. A fly out to right field, and we are going to extra innings.

The Cubs are 4-2 in extra innings, 2-0 against the Pirates this year. This one didn’t turn out that way. Woody pitched another inning successfully before turning things over to Lieber, Eyre, and Wuertz. The Cubs mounted only one serious threat in extra innings. Soto and Fukudome led off with walks. Blanco laid down a bunt, but the Pirates made a great play with the third baseman fielding the bunt and throwing to shortstop covering third. Reed Johnson and Ronny Cedeno were retired to end the threat.

The Pirates finally ended this one in the 14th. Freddy Sanchez reached on an error by Theriot and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After intentionally walking Nate McLouth, Wuertz surrendered the game winning single to Jason Bay. Unfortunate for the Cubs those errors played a part in the loss, but due to the number of defensive changes it could be anticipated. Blanco playing first isn’t how we are going to start many games.

The Cubs have been struggling with game two as of late. Tomorrow they will try to win the series and fight to stay in first place. With the Cardinals win tonight they are in a virtual tie for first place in the NL Central.