Tonight in Cincinnati, the Reds found a way to end their five-game winning streak and the Cubs found a way to give up five unearned runs in a 5-3 loss. Cubs.com reports that losing pitcher Ryan Dempster (6 IP, 4 H, 7 K, 1 BB) was "the first Cubs pitcher to give up at least five unearned runs and no earned runs since Greg Hibbard was charged with six runs, all unearned, on July 11, 1993, against Houston."

Eric Yelding and Candy Maldonado were the culprits in '93; Mike Fontenot and Mark DeRosa made the back-breaking errors tonight. Fontenot compounded his failure in the field by getting thrown out at the plate in the top of the ninth after an almost-wild pitch by Reds reliever Francisco Cordero. At the time, the Cubs had the bases loaded and there was just one out.

"That play in the last inning is aggressive, but not in a two-run game," (Lou) Piniella said. "You almost have to be assured that you can fall down and still score. If it's a one-run game, different story. It happened, what can you do?"

When Derrek Lee grounded out to end the game, the tv camera flashed to Piniella in the Cubs dugout. He looked too disgusted to be angry.