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Returning home appeared to be just what the Chicago Cubs needed to
recover from their longest road trip of the season.
The confines of
Wrigley Field, however, were anything but friendly in the club’s last
game.
After giving up their highest run total at Wrigley in more
than a year, the Cubs look to bounce back Friday when they open a
three-game series against the punchless San Francisco Giants.
Chicago
(55-37) took the best record in the majors into its last road trip, but
that didn’t last long as the Cubs dropped six of 10, including two of
four against the Giants (39-53).
Oddsmakers from Sportsbook.com have made
line favorites (MLB
Odds) for tonight’s game, the over/under has been set at 9
total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that N/A% of
bets for this game have been placed on Chicago -160
Percentages).
The Cubs returned to Wrigley to
win consecutive games against Cincinnati and improve baseball’s best
home record to 35-10 before giving up a season-high 18 hits – including
seven home runs – in a 12-7 loss to the Reds on Thursday.
The
Cubs hadn’t allowed that many runs at Wrigley Field since a 13-4 loss
to Milwaukee on June 30, 2007. They hadn’t given up that many homers
there since surrendering eight in a 12-3 loss to Detroit on June 18,
2006.
Cubs manager Lou Piniella said he lost track of how many homers the Reds hit.
"I know the one (Adam) Dunn hit counted for two," he said.
The
Cubs should have a good shot at bouncing back against the Giants, who
have struggled offensively during a four-game losing streak. San
Francisco has been outscored 24-6 while batting .153 (19-for-124) with
32 strikeouts during that skid – its longest since dropping six in a
row from May 14-19.
Though they ended their scoreless streak at
21 innings when first baseman John Bowker scored on a wild pitch in the
fourth inning Thursday, the Giants still fell 7-3 to the New York Mets
in their third straight three-hit game.
"We just got outplayed.
We got outhit, we didn’t play well on defense," said Giants manager
Bruce Bochy, whose team is 27th in the majors with 370 runs scored and
last with 57 homers. "It was probably our worst series of the year. …
We’re not playing well. That’s why we got swept."
The Giants hope
to snap out of their funk on Friday when they meet Jason Marquis (6-5,
4.78 ERA), who has struggled at Wrigley. The right-hander gave up seven
runs in four innings of his last home start – an 11-4 loss to Baltimore
on June 26 – to fall to 3-3 with a 6.29 ERA in eight starts there.
Marquis
has fared better on the road, although he suffered a 2-1 loss to San
Francisco in his last start July 1. Marquis, who fell to 3-1 with a
2.56 ERA in six career games against the Giants, held them to two runs
and four hits in seven innings.
San Francisco’s Friday starterMatt Cain (5-7, 4.30) got the win in that game, giving up two hits and
striking out 10 in eight scoreless innings and improving to 4-2 with a
3.29 ERA in six career starts against the Cubs.
In his last outing Sunday, the right-hander was tagged for five runs in six innings of a 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"It’s always frustrating when all the little things go wrong," Cain said. "I have a lot better stuff than I showed today."
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