Fired up and still seething, Reds ace Johnny Cueto didn’t feel he was beaten only by the Cubs on Tuesday night. He also felt defeated by the fickle science that is meteorology.
It started pouring minutes into Cueto’s start in the first inning. Anthony Rizzo hit a solo home run to right field three batters into the game before a delay stopped play for nearly an hour. When the skies cleared, the Reds went quietly in a 3-0 loss to the Cubs at Great American Ball Park.
“I was pretty upset,” Cueto said with catcher Brayan Pena translating. “It was raining. The baseball was very slippery. It’s difficult. If they knew it was going to rain, why couldn’t they stop the game and wait until it was much better weather?”
Denied again to be the Majors’ first 16-game winner, Cueto lost back-to-back starts for the first time since May 20 and 26. He gave up three runs — all on home runs — over 6 1/3 innings, including seven hits, two walks and eight strikeouts.
Following Rizzo’s two-out homer on the 1-0 fastball, his 30th of the season, next batter Starlin Castro singled to center field as Billy Hamilton slipped and fell trying to catch the ball. A 50-minute rain delay sent both teams back to their clubhouses. Cueto tried to keep busy throwing in the batting cage, but it’s not the same as game intensity.
“I’m not making excuses or anything like that, but it took a little time for me to get warm again,” said Cueto, now 15-8 with a 2.26 ERA. “After you get loose and then sit down for an hour, your body breaks down a little bit.”
After play resumed, Cueto retired 10 in a row and did not allow his next hit until the sixth inning.
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