Cardinals-Cubs Recap: 3-0 May 19

The Cubs headed down to St Louis today and forgot to take their bats and patience with them. Joel Pineiro did his best Greg Maddux imitation to beat the Cubs and go all nine innings on just 92 pitches for his first shutout in six seasons and first complete game since 2006.

Things started out promising for the Cubs and only went down hill from there.

Alfonso Soriano led off the top of the first with a single before being caught in lala land and getting picked off first by Yadier Molina for Molina's twenty-ninth career pick off and third this season. Ryan Theriot grounded out to third for the second out before Kosuke Fukudome grounded out to short to end the first.

Ted Lilly came into the game riding a three-game winning streak over his last three starts, including a win over San Diego in his last outing. Lilly started things off by walking Brendan Ryan to lead off the bottom of the first.

After a sacrifice by Colby Rasmus, yes the same Colby Rasmus, things looked good for Lilly to get out of the inning when Albert Pujols popped out to Geovony Soto for the second out of the inning.

Following a steal of third base by Brendan Ryan, Lilly gave up a two out single to center by Molina to put the Cardinals ahead 1-0. Lilly struck out Chris Duncan to end the bottom of the first.

The Cubs looked to get something going in the top of the second as Derrek Lee led off with a single to center. That lasted all of four pitches as Milton Bradley promptly rolled into a 4-6-3 double play and Mike Fontenot grounded out to first to end the top of the second.

Lilly got things going in the bottom of the second, setting the Cardinals down in order on 13 pitches. Chicago then decided to one-up the Cardinals and go down in order themselves in the top of the third inning on just nine pitches, with Lilly seeing five of them himself.

Soto apparently thought he liked the first pitch he saw and grounded out to shortstop shortly before Aaron Miles grounded back to the mound on the third pitch of his at-bat.

I think the fourth inning lasted an entire five minutes.

In the top of the fourth, the Cubs had the top of the order up once again, hoping to get something going with Lilly keeping them in the game. I don't even think Lilly made it to dugout before Lou told him he had to go back out when Soriano grounded to shortstop on the first pitch, Theriot grounded out to third on his second and Fukudome flew out to center on his first pitch, as well.

The top three hitters in the order saw a total of four pitches that inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Lilly only had to throw five pitches to get out of the inning—even with giving up a hit. Lilly struck out Duncan for the second time with four pitches, and Ryan walked to start the inning.

La Russa decided not to have Rasmus sacrifice this time and he flew out to Soriano in left. Lilly once again got past Pujols without any damage done, getting him to fly out to center before Molina grounded into a fielder's choice. Then Nick Stavinoha hit an infield single to short on the first pitch.

The Cubs were a little more patient in the top of the fifth, making Pineiro throw double the pitches he did in the fourth—a whopping ten pitches. After Lee lined out to center and Bradley grounded out to first (on the first pitch), the Cubs finally got another hit as Fontento doubled to left putting the tying run on second.

However, Soto couldn't come up with the clutch hit with two outs and proceeded to ground out to third to end the fifth—the score still 1-0 in favor of the Cardinals. Lilly got two quick outs in the bottom of the fifth, striking out Pineiro and Joe Thurston  lined out to first—that was before giving up an 0-2 single to that pesky Brendan Ryan.

That brought Colby Rasmus back to the plate—a lefty-lefty matchup that Lilly has won 23 out of 27 times this season.

Would La Russa have him sacrifice again? Not with two outs, duh!

Lilly quickly got ahead in the count (0-2) before wasting a pitch. After a foul ball, Lilly grooved the rookie Rasmus a 1-2 fastball right in the wheelhouse and the Cardinals were up 3-0—the game was essentially over.

Chicago didn't manage to successfully hit the ball the rest of the way and the Cardinals managed only a double by Pujols and eventually grounded into a 6-4-3 double play on the first pitch to end the inning. The entire fourth inning took 9 pitches combined.

Lilly pitched a great game, making only two mistakes and unfortunately for Ted, it was two too many. He deserved a better fate in this game and the Cubs need to get back to being more patient at the plate, like they showed at times in April and early May.

Even Milton Bradley, one of the best batting eyes in the game, was up there hacking away.

Pineiro came into this game 0-3 with 6.30 ERA in his first three May starts, and in his last two starts against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, he managed just six innings in each game and was at ninety plus pitches in both. The lack of patience Cubs hitters showed tonight made things way too easy for Pineiro.

Cubs Game Notes

The Cubs have scored four or more runs in all 21 of their victories, but have plated three or fewer runs in 13 of their 16 losses.

Chicago is hitting 87 points lower in losses (.204) compared to its victories (.291).

Chicago is 19-6 when playing errorless ball, and 2-10 when committing an error.

Ted Lilly is now 6-3 against the Cardinals in his career.

Milton Bradley's eight-game hitting streak came to an end and Mike Fontenot's double in the fifth inning was his first hit in six games, ending a one for 20 slide.

Cubs are now 14-4 when drawing at least four walks in a game and 7-12 when they draw three or less.

The Cubs biggest inning is the fifth in which they have outscored teams 37-12, and their worst inning is the seventh inning in which they have been outscored 32-11, which is usually about the time the bullpen enters.

Cubs at the plate

Alfonso Soriano went 1-4 with a single and was picked off at first. He only saw ten total pitches in his four at-bats. Sori is hitting .279 with 12 HR, 25 RBI and 33 runs scored in the first 37 games of the season.

Ryan Theriot went 0-3 with some poor at-bats grounding out to third twice and first once. Theriot is hitting .288 with five HR and 18 RBI.

Kosuke Fukudome was also 0-3, and like the rest of the team, didn't show much patience seeing just seven pitches in his three at bats. Fukudome is still having a good start though, and is hitting .325 with four HR and 17 RBI.

Derrek Lee was 1-3 to keep his mini three-game hitting streak going. Lee is hard to figure out as he will have a couple of great at-bats followed by a couple that leave you shaking your head. D. Lee is hitting .229 with four HR and 18 RBI.

Milton Bradley went 0-3—ending his eight game hitting streak in which he was 9-30. Bradley is hitting .188 with four HR and nine RBI.

Geovony Soto went 0-3 and although he's had some better at-bats as of late, Geo just can't seem to sustain any type of momentum. He did show more patience than most in tonight's game, though. Soto is hitting .198 with one HR and ten RBI.

Mike Fontenot was 1-3 at the plate with a two-out double in the fifth inning. It was Fontenot's first hit in his last six games and he is now just two for his last 22. Fontenot is hitting .207 with five HR and 17 RBI.

Aaron Miles went 0-3 and continues to struggle. Can you say: "We miss De-Roe?" Miles is hitting a paltry .209 with no HR and four RBI on the year.

Cubs on the mound

Ted Lilly had a strong performance, making just two costly mistakes, both coming with two outs. Lilly continues to have a strong season and give the Cubs a chance to win each time he takes the mound. Ted's line was seven innings, four hits, three runs, three earned runs, three walks and five strike outs. Lilly is now 5-3 with a 3.35 ERA this season.

Kevin Gregg pitched the eighth to get some work in I'm guessing. He pitched a decent inning, giving up just a double to Pujols—but then left the Card stranded giving up no runs.

Series Record 0-1
Season Record 21-16
Road Record 9-9
Home Record 12-7

Next Game: 05/20 in St Lous @ 7:15 pm CST

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