CINCINNATI -- The Cubs know they miss Aramis Ramirez, and it showed Saturday.
Jay Bruce scored from third on pinch-hitter Adam Rosales' fielder's choice in the 11th inning, dodging a high throw home from third baseman Mike Fontenot to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 victory Saturday night over the Cubs to even the series.
With the game tied at 3, Bruce drew a leadoff walk off Sean Marshall (3-5), reached second on a wild pitch and advanced on Alex Gonzalez's sacrifice. Ryan Hanigan was intentionally walked, and Rosales hit a grounder to Fontenot. His throw home to catcher Geovany Soto was high, and Bruce scored.
"I would've liked to have made the play," Fontenot said, "but when I caught the ball, the guy was right in front of me, so the only thing for me, since I'm a little shorter, is to throw it right over his head. I felt that was the only play I had. That's all I can do there."
Was Bruce in his way?
"I could see [Geo]," Fontenot said. "[Rosales] hit the ball right down the line, so when I caught the ball, [Bruce] was right in between me and Geo. What are you going to do? I didn't know if I had time to try to slide step and throw it. I just tried to throw it and get it over his head there."
"It was a high chopper right down the line," Soto said, "and the guy is coming right down the line. That's all you have to do is throw over him. It was a really tough play. You have to get it to the catcher somehow. [Fontenot] was too close to the line, lined up with the runner and it was a tough play."
The play was originally called a fielder's choice, then ruled an error on Fontenot, then switched back to a fielder's choice. Fontenot did make a throwing error in the first inning that led to three unearned runs.
"Fontenot had a rough night over there at third base," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said.
It's been a tough transition for Fontenot, originally projected as the Cubs' starting second baseman. When Ramirez dislocated his left shoulder May 8, Fontenot was switched to third. He's been a good soldier.
"That's where we're at right now," Fontenot said. "I have to play the best I can over there."
"It's been a problem since Ramirez went down -- it's been a big problem for us," Piniella said.
The Cubs had a chance in the 10th when they had a runner at first with one out, but Ryan Theriot lined out to Ramon Hernandez, who stepped on the bag to double up Alfonso Soriano. Saturday was Chicago's third extra-inning game in its past four.
It also was another frustrating game for Piniella, as the Cubs went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They were 0-for-10 on Friday. Ramirez, the best clutch hitter on the team, could help the lineup in that regard, too.
"Do I need to keep rehashing this every night?" Piniella said when asked about the lack of clutch hits. "Write what you see. What can I do? I don't know what to do. We keep putting different lineups out there, we try different things.
"I've said sooner or later it's got to get better -- I still cling to that -- but boy, it's not fun to watch, I can tell you that."
Reds lefty Matt Maloney, making his first Major League start, served up Bobby Scales' solo homer with two outs in the fourth as well as Soto's leadoff blast in the seventh that ricocheted off the left-field foul pole and closed the gap to 3-2.
That was the good news. But the Cubs also had three innings when batters led off with a double and none of them scored. They stranded five in the game.
"Sometimes you want to do too much up there, or want to look for that perfect pitch," Soto said. "Right now, it's not going good for us, but hopefully, we can turn it around."
Chicago starter Ryan Dempster did not get a decision for the fifth time this year. He gave up three runs, all unearned, on six hits. The right-hander was pulled early in his last start because of a blister, and he was lifted Saturday after 89 pitches over six innings. The blister wasn't a factor, Dempster said. A bad pitch to Hernandez was.
In the Reds' first, Jerry Hairston Jr. was safe on a throwing error by Fontenot, and he scored on Chris Dickerson's ensuing double, sliding under Soto's tag. Two outs later, Hernandez bounced his fourth home run off the top of the visitor's bullpen in right to put the Reds ahead, 3-0.
"Just the first inning, the two-run home run kind of put us behind the eight ball," Dempster said. "I could've made a better pitch there. I tried to settle down and pitch better, but it was too late."
After Scales and Soto hit their homers, the Cubs tied the game with one out in the eighth as Theriot singled, reached third on Derrek Lee's single and scored on Jake Fox's sacrifice fly.
Ramirez did do some light fielding drills in the batting cage Saturday, but he's a long way from returning. The best prediction is early July.
"We just keep working hard," Dempster said. "Any time one of your big guys goes down it stings no matter who you are. It seems like we're winning one or two, then losing one or two, and we're just treading water. Hopefully, we can get on a little bit of a run and score a bunch of runs and give these guys a little bit of a breather."
