MESA—If he was concerned about his rough outing, Carlos Zambrano didn’t act like it.The volatile Cubs right-hander was tagged for six runs and seven hits over 4 2-3 innings Friday in a loss to the Cincinnati Reds 14-13 in a slugfest.But afterward, Zambrano was relaxed when he met with reporters.
“I felt good out there,” he said. “I worked on what I had to work on. I thought I pitched well. I made a couple of mistakes, and I paid for them.”
Those mistakes were hit out of the ballpark. NL MVP Joey Votto hit a two-run homer and Scott Rolen had a three-run shot for Cincinnati.Votto also knocked in the go-ahead run with a single in the sixth inning before a crowd of 13,182, the fourth-largest in HoHoKam Park history.The Cubs pulled within 14-13 in the ninth on a base hit by Welington Castillo. Darwin Barney walked to load the bases with two outs, but Kosuke Fukudome grounded out on the first pitch, allowing the Reds to escape.The teams combined for 40 hits, 22 by the Cubs. Starlin Castro hit a three-run homer.Zambrano, penciled in by manager Mike Quade to start the team’s second game of the season April 2 against Pittsburgh at Wrigley Field, tipped his cap to the Reds.