Blue Jays snap Cubs' winning streak

TORONTO - Only a few days after coming off their West Coast swing, the Cubs began their artificial turf trip Friday night at the Rogers Center.

The Cubs hadn't played a game on artificial turf since getting swept in Minnesota in 2006 and had not won a game on fake grass since Sept. 1, 2004 in Montreal, a game Kerry Wood started.

Friday night was more of the same as Toronto squeezed out a 3-2 victory before a relatively sleepy crowd of 27,803.

Back-to-back home runs by Matt Stairs and Scott Rolen off Sean Gallagher in the fourth gave the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead, and the Cubs offense couldn't get it together against A.J. Burnett and five Toronto relievers, leaving 11 men on base for the night.

"We had chances, we really did," manager Lou Piniella said. "The big one was the double play by [ Ryan] Theriot with the bases loaded. Outside of that, we had a lot of chances. We didn't score runs."

Piniella was referring to the Cubs' sixth, when they chased starter A.J. Burnett and pulled to within a run at 3-2. After Kosuke Fukudome singled and Geovany Soto walked to lead to Burnett's exit, Jim Edmonds singled up the middle off reliever Brian Wolfe.

While Fukudome would have scored on the hit, the ball hit umpire Jeff Nelson before it trickled into the outfield. Fukudome was sent back to third, leaving the bases loaded.

"It hit the umpire's arm inside the bases," Piniella said. "And that's a dead-ball single. That's the ruling."

After Mark DeRosa struck out for the second time in a three-strikeout night, Eric Patterson singled to right to bring the Cubs to within a run. But Theriot grounded into a double play, ending the threat.

Theriot also ran the Cubs out of a scoring opportunity in the first by trying to take third on a sharp comebacker to Burnett, who threw to third for a fielder's choice. Piniella said he didn't completely blame Theriot for the play.

"That's a tough read for a base-runner," he said. "If you hang, you're not going to score on the base hit. He broke and the pitcher made a nice play on the ball. If the ball goes through, he scores easy. I have no fault with that, with no outs. But there was one out already."

Gallagher fell to 3-3, though he generally pitched well despite falling behind hitters much of the night.

"One [bad] inning," he said. "I let a few pitches get away from me, and they put some good swings on 'em."

In his one bad inning, the third, Gallagher served up a two-run home run to ex-Cub Stairs and a solo shot to the next batter, Rolen. He wound up pitching five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Gallagher saw some progress, despite the loss.

"It's a learning experience," he said. "Just going out there every fifth day and learning how to execute pitches. Today I let a few things get away from me."

The Cubs went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and struck out 13 times on the night, including the three by DeRosa, three by Micah Hoffpauir and two by Patterson.

"This place here is not as difficult as where we're going to next," Piniella said, referring to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. "But it still takes some getting used to."

With only two games left in Toronto, the Cubs better get used to it quickly.

psullivan@tribune.com

Related topic galleries: Major League Baseball, Lou Piniella, Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson, Kerry Wood, Jeff Nelson, Geovany Soto

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