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CHICAGO (AP) -
Lou Piniella
is a frustrated manager in a tough spot: He is lacking options.
After a sloppy, 8-2 loss in 10 innings to the
Florida Marlins
on Thursday night, the
Chicago Cubs
manager talked about shuffling his poor-hitting lineup.
''What am I supposed to do?'' Piniella said. ''I can start changing lineups around and let my bench play. I can do that.''
What bench?
Losers of seven of nine, the Cubs are playing without injured third baseman
Aramis Ramirez
(calf), and Piniella had use to
Carlos Zambrano
as a pinch hitter in the eighth and play catcher
Koyie Hill
at third in the 10th.
Jorge Cantu
hit a three-run double in the 10th inning after Florida tied it on a throwing error by
Carlos Marmol
in the eighth to win its third straight,
The Cubs had five hits and scored their only runs on back-to-back homer by
Milton Bradley
and
Mike Fontenot
. Four regulars are hitting under .200 as the Cubs finished the month 10-11.
The Cubs' only substitutes right now are outfielders
Micah Hoffpauir
, whom Piniella doesn't want to start in right because of defense, and the weak-hitting
Joey Gathright
. Slumping catcher
Geovany Soto
didn't start.
''It's a big concern,'' Piniella said. ''Big concern.''
Defense is a concern for the Cubs as well.
Alfredo Amezaga
doubled and scored on
Ryan Theriot
's fielding error for the go-ahead run in the 10th and Cantu homered and drove in four runs for the Marlins. Florida tied
it in the eighth when Marmol threw away Maybin's sacrifice attempt.
''When you play those games so tightly late in the game, it's usually a base on balls or an error that's going to crack the
game open,'' Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. ''There's no secret about that. We were glad that we were able to take advantage
of it.''
Theriot committed two of the Cubs' three errors.
Amezaga led off the 10th with a drive
Aaron Heilman
(2-1) that popped out of a diving
Reed Johnson
's glove for a double.
Wes Helms
walked before Amezaga scored when Theriot couldn't come up with
Derrek Lee
's throw to second for the force on
Emilio Bonifacio
's grounder.
''When everything is going right, you're going to take advantage,'' Amezaga said. ''I feel pretty happy that I helped the
team.''
After Maybin's RBI bunt hit, Heilman walked
Jeremy Hermida
to load the bases and Cantu double to left-center.
Dan Uggla
added an RBI off
Angel Guzman
.
Heilman failed to record an out in the inning, giving up six runs - five earned - on three hits, while walking two.
''We're not playing the way we know we can play,'' Lee said. ''We need to change it, we need to fix it. April's over now,
it's time to turn it around.''
Renyel Pinto
(2-0) got one out for the win.
Amezaga helped the cause in the ninth with a diving stop of Johnson's grounder to short that would've scored Theriot from
third.
Bradley got his first hit as a Cub at Wrigley Field: a home run in the fifth.
Fontenot connected on the next pitch from
Chris Volstad
for consecutive homers to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.
Bradley came into the game hitting .097 (3-for-31) in 13 games this season, missing time with a groin strain.
Trailing 2-1 in the eighth, pinch-hitter
Ross Gload
was walked by Marmol, who then walked Bonifacio. Gload scored when Marmol threw away Maybin's bunt toward third, tying it
2-all.
Cantu homered off
Sean Marshall
to start the seventh to make it 2-1.
Notes: Volstad retired the first 10 hitters, before Theriot singled in the fourth. ... Zambrano had a pinch-hit single with
two outs in the eighth. ... Cubs 3B
Aramis Ramirez
ran in the outfield before Thursday's game in front of manager
Lou Piniella
. Ramirez had an MRI earlier in the day on his strained left calf that didn't show a tear. ... The Cubs flew minor league
infielder Bobby Scales to Chicago from Triple-A Iowa in case Ramirez needed to go on the DL, but then sent the career minor
leaguer home. ... Marlins SS
Hanley Ramirez
missed his third straight game with a bruised right wrist. Manager Fredi Gonzalez said he expected Ramirez to return sometime
during the Marlins' four-game series in Chicago. ... Most of the Wrigley Field press box was following the Bulls triple-overtime
victory over Boston, which played on one TV.
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