The Cubs got the good Randy Wells on Saturday. They got the Randy Wells that pounds the strike zone (71 of 99 pitches were strikes), makes it deep into games, and keeps hitters off balance. It was certainly a welcome sight for Lou Piniella as Wells took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Cincinnati Reds, surrendering just one walk through the first 19 batters. Wells eventually got the win ending his six game losing streak making him 4-6 on the season. Unfortunately, they needed every ounce of effort from the young right-hander because well, the offense was doing a whole lot of nothing…again. Chicago went on to win the ballgame by a score of 3-1, and it took everything that the Cubs had to push those three runs across.
In recent days, the Cubs were not scoring because they were not creating any chances for themselves. On Saturday however, there was no shortage of scoring opportunities. Seventeen. That is the number of runners that the Cubs left on base, one shy of the National League record of 18. For the game they were 3-16 with runners in scoring position, a trend that simply will not go away. It is in the players’ heads and they have said as much. It is too bad that even in a Cubs victory where the starting pitcher took a no-hitter into the seventh that the main story continues to be their inability to drive runners in.
The Cubs and Reds will play the final game of this four game series today at 2:20. Chicago is looking for the split by sending Ted Lilly (3-6, 3.12) to the mound against rookie right-hander Mike Leake (5-1, 3.30). Ted Lilly has received little to no run support this season, and the offense already has a difficult task today going up against Leake. Tough assignment for a team trying to break records that nobody wants.
