The past two games have been a perfect summary of the 2011 Cubs season. Sunday they played an all around good game. They pitched well, played good defense, and executed on offense. In Monday’s series opener against Houston they kept up their inconsistant trends this season. They pitched poorly and had three more errors on defense dropping the game to the Astros 12-7.
Rodrigo Lopez made his Cubs debut on Monday. Lopez,who was acquired from Atlanta last week, is the ninth different pitcher to start a game for the Cubs this season. Lopez gave up six runs on ten hits in his four and two thirds innings of work. The Bullpen wasn’t much better. Three Cubs relievers combined to give up six runs(five earned).
Astros starter Aneury Rodriguez also struggled Monday. Rodriguez gave up six runs (four earned) on seven hits in his four innings of work. The Astros bullpen shut the door on the Cubs bats the rest of the way allowing only a ninth inning run when the game was already out of reach.
The Cubs added one more to their growing list of injuries. Alfonso Soriano left after the first inning with an apparent quadriceps injury. It is unknown how long Soriano will be out.
The Cubs will look to even the series when the two teams meet again on Tuesday evening.