Following his team’s crucial series wins under pressure conditions against the contending Cardinals and Dodgers, manager Dusty Baker was asked Monday afternoon if a letdown needed to be prevented against the last-place Cubs.
“I don’t believe in letdowns. I believe in let ups,” Baker replied. “That’s what happens, you kind of let up. That was an exciting week. I just make sure to tell the guys they make sure they play at our level and not at whoever we’re playing’s level. … We have to stay after it.”
The Reds may have done a nice job lately of beating the good teams, but they have equally confounded by not taking care of the teams they’re supposed to bury. In the last month, there have also been series losses to the Rockies and twice to the Brewers.
And now they’ve dropped the series opener to the last place team in the National League Central. Part of the credit for that goes to ex-Red Travis Wood, who had a strong night as it took only a pair of solo home runs against Bronson Arroyo for the Reds to be handed a 2-0 loss by the Cubs and snap a four-game winning streak.
“We had a great run against the Dodgers and the Cardinals. It would have been nice to continue it tonight,” Arroyo said. “But that’s what good pitching does.”
Meanwhile, the Reds fell to two games behind the idle Cardinals for first place in the NL Central. The second-place Pirates, who entered just .001 percentage points ahead of Cincinnati, snapped their four-game losing streak with a 1-0 win in Texas, and are back to one game ahead of the Reds for the first Wild Card spot.
Arroyo’s 1-1 hanging changeup to Ryan Sweeney in the second inning was lifted to the right-field seats to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. During the Chicago third, Luis Valbuena launched a 1-1 offering to right field for a home run. The two home runs were the only runs Arroyo (13-11) allowed in seven innings, with seven hits, no walks and six strikeouts. He has given up just one walk in his last 47 innings.
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