DENVER (AP) — Ryan Dempster didn't factor in the decision for the Chicago Cubs Sunday. Still, he took responsibility for the loss.
Chicago's starter was long gone by the time the
Colorado Rockies scored four runs in the eighth off Marcos Mateo to beat the
Cubs 9-5.
After four starts, Dempster is 1-2 with a 6.84 ERA.
He allowed four runs in the first, including Seth Smith's two-out, two run
homer. Dempster allowed one run over his final four innings and the Cubs
rallied to go ahead 5-4 in fourth against Alan Johnson, a 27-year-old rookie
making his major league debut, but Dempster knew the Rockies would never have
been in position to break out in the eighth if he were more effective.
"I've just got to do a better job of making
pitches and getting people out," Dempster said. "It's getting really
old and really tired. I know they're professional hitters on the other side.
You have to tip your cap to them sometimes, but when you throw the ball over
the middle of the plate too much, you don't tip your cap to anybody. You look
in the mirror and do a better job of that."
Dempster has allowed at least four earned runs in
each of his four starts, three of which have resulted in Cubs' losses. Cubs
manager Mike Quade said he would be more concerned if he was seeing these
results from a young pitcher rather than a veteran such as Dempster.
But Quade said of Dempster, "He's still
feeling his way. It's not the Demp we're accustomed to seeing, and I fully
expect that we'll see that. His effort after the first inning was excellent. It
seems like there's an inning. He isn't sharp overall. But he'll work that out."
Mateo (0-1) had made five stright hitless
appearances covering 4 1-3 innings before giving up an infield hit to Ryan
Spilborghs and double to Jose Lopez, who broke an 0-for-18 skid. After Jose
Morales and pinch-hitter Ty Wiggington each fanned, Dexter Fowler lashed a
double to right-center to give the Rockies a 7-5 lead. Jonathan Herrera and
Carlos Gonzalez, who had four hits, followed with RBI singles.
"The one thing that Matty couldn't do, because
he made some good pitches, he couldn't finish somebody with a slider down and
out of the strike zone and that's what he needed to do," Quade said.
"It's a quality slider, but he just couldn't quite get it down
enough."
The Cubs finished their road trip that included
stops in Milwaukee and Houston 4-5 and are 7-8 overall. They have had one
two-game winning streak and one two-game losing streak.
"We've got some things to clean up, for
sure," Quade said. "But as far as effort — our guys are playing and
getting after it. I'm very optimistic about this club getting better."
Johnson was touched for five runs on six hits in
four innings and threw 93 pitches. He started because of a rainout Tuesday at
New York, which necessiated Johnson starting Sunday. Rafael Betancourt (1-0),
the fourth of five Rockies pitchers, entered in the eighth and picked up the
win, retiring the two batters he faced.
The Rockies overcame the loss of a key part of
their offense when Smith was lifted in the top of the fifth inning because of
tightness in his left groin. He hit a two-run homer and doubled and scored
before being replaced by Spilborghs. He is day to day.
The Cubs went ahead 5-4 in the fourth after Geovany
Soto walked, was sacrificed to second and then scored on Starlin Castro's
two-out double off Johnson. The game was tied again in the bottom of the fourth
when Smith scored from third on a groundout by Jose Morales after doubling to
start the inning.
Soto's RBI single in the second pulled Chicago to
4-2. The Cubs evened the score 4-all when Aramis Ramirez delivered a
run-scoring single and Darwin Barney came home on second baseman Herrera's
errant throw to first while trying to complete a double play.
Carlos Gonzalez, whose four hits in a game matched
a career high, started the Rockies' first-ininng rally with a run-scoring
double and Smith followed an RBI single by Todd Helton with a home run that
sailed into the bleachers behind the center field fence. It was the fifth homer
allowed this season by Dempster, who has pitched 25 innings.
"I pride myself in giving us a chance to win,
and I've pitched four ballgames and not given us a good chance to win one of
them," Dempster said. "That's how I look at it. I'm proud of the fact
that I gave up four in the first inning and after that gave up one soft run,
but still it's not good enough. I'm a better pitcher than that. I can sit here
and talk about it until I'm blue in my face. I'm going to stop talking about it
and just go out there and be about it and get people out."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)
