With the wind howling out on a warm Spring day, you would expect a shoot out. There were a lot of runs scored … but only by 1 team. The Arizona Diamondbacks absolutely demolished the Cubs on Thursday. The Cubs were outmatched in pretty much every facet of the game.
Ted Lilly was on the mound for the Cubs, making his 2nd start of the season. In his debut, Lilly picked up the win and held the Brewers scoreless. This start was the polar opposite of his 1st. Lilly surrendered 6 runs on 7 hits (3 homeruns) in only 5 innings. He did strike out 6 while walking 2. Despite the horrible outing, Ted didn’t receive any run support much like the rest of the Cubs’ starting rotation.
The bullpen didn’t fare any better. Jeff Gray and James Russell combined to allow 7 runs in their 2 innings of relief. Justin Berg and Sean Marshall each pitched scoreless innings in the 8th and 9th.
Ian Kennedy held the Cubs in check all game allowing only 1 run until the 8th inning. Down by 12, Kosuke Fukudome hit a grand slam off of Kennedy to cut the lead to 8. It’s concerning that the Cubs are struggling so bad on offense especially since Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez are statistically 1 of the worst 3-4 threats in the league.
The “Friendly Confines” haven’t been so friendly to the Cubs this year essentially eliminating any sort of home field advantage for the North-Siders. The Cubs are only 4-6 at Wrigley.
Final Score: Cubs (10-13) 5 – Diamondbacks (11-11) 13
WP: Ian Kennedy (1-1)
LP: Ted Lilly (1-1)
The Cubs are now in a 3 game losing streak and are already 5.5 game behind the Cardinals who are atop the NL Central. Randy Wells (2-0) will try and snap the Cubs’ losing streak while Rodrigo Lopez (1-0) will pitch for Arizona.
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