PHOENIX—No 100th loss yet for Cubs as D-Backs collapse late.Josh Collmenter ended the season on a positive note despite failing to get a victory in his final outing.Collmenter held the Cubs to one run over fine innings, but they beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-2 on Sunday afternoon.It was the Cubs only win in an NL West Stadium this season.Collmenter turned a 2-1 lead over the Diamondbacks bullpen in the sixth but it didn’t last long.Anthony Rizzo and Alfonso Soriano singled with one out in the sixth against Bryan Shaw (1-6). Starlin Castro was safe when first baseman Mike Jacobs couldn’t pick up his grounder down the line, and the error loaded the bases.After Mike Zagurski struck out Luis Valbuena, Matt Albers relieved. Pinch hitter Dave Sappelt hit a grounder that Jacobs scooped, but the throw to Albers covering first base was a half-second late(replays showed Sappelt was really out)but that infield hit made it 2-all. Albers then hit Anthony Recker with a pitch to force home the go-ahead run and Bryan LaHair singled to right to make it 5-2.The Cubs added an unearned run in the seventh on a three-base throwing error by Brad Bergesen, the Diamondbacks’ fifth of seven pitchers, and another error two batters later by third baseman Cody Ransom.DeJesus homered to right off Takashi Saito in the ninth for the final run.
“We gave up seven runs and three of them were earned,” said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson. “That’s pretty tough. We can be frustrated but the reality of it is they had three earned runs out of seven. It wasn’t a very clean game from the seventh inning on.”
Rizzo had three hits as the Cubs snapped a seven-game losing streak overall and a 19-game road losing streak against the NL West dating back to the final game of last season. The win was the Cubs second in their past 13 games overall.
“If we’re going to win one, it might as well be the last one on the west coast,” said Cubs manager Dale said. “It wasn’t the prettiest thing ever.”
Chris Rusin (2-3) scattered three hits, allowing two runs – one earned – with two walks and four strikeouts for his first win since September 14 against Pittsburgh.Rizzo doubled home DeJesus in the first against Collmenter for a 1-0 lead.The Diamondbacks scored twice in the bottom half. Ransom drove in a run with an infield single and another scored on Recker’s error for dropping Rusin’s throw home for a would-be force out.Collmenter went five innings, allowing a run on six hits with two strikeouts.
“I thought we would be able to get to their guy, but they did a good job from the first inning on,” Collmenter said.
The Cubs, sitting on 99 losses, need to sweep their three-game home series against Houston to avoid becoming the first club to lose 100 games since 1966.
NOTES—Castro came up limping after turning a double play in the eighth but remained in the game. … Aaron Hill went 1 for 3 to move into fifth place on the Diamondbacks’ single-season hits list with 180. … Darwin Barney, whose 141-game errorless streak was snapped on Friday, returned to the lineup after an off day on Saturday. … Arizona 1B Paul Goldschmidt missed his third straight game with a sore back. … RHP Jason Berken (0-2) will be the next to try and keep the Cubs from their 100th loss when he takes the mound Monday night against RHP Lucas Harrell (10-11). Berken will be making his fourth start since he was claimed off waivers from Baltimore on Sept. 7. … Arizona LHP Wade Miley (16-11) will face Colorado LHP Drew Pomeranz (1-9) on Monday. Miley is tied with Jason Jennings, the 2002 NL Rookie of the Year, for the most wins by an NL rookie since 1986.