Hector Villanueva can hit. He can play first base. He can catch. He will soon play third base.
”If he could pitch, you know . . .” said manager Don Zimmer.
Pitching is one thing young Hector can`t do, and on Friday night it was one thing the Cub bullpen couldn`t do, as usual.
Villanueva smacked a three-run homer, but then the relievers allowed another late lead to evaporate in a 6-5, 10-inning loss to Philadelphia in the first game of a Veterans Stadium double-header.
The bullpen wasn`t a factor in the nightcap. The Phils busted Mike Bielecki (3-6) for seven runs and 10 hits in seven innings in a 7-0 blowout. That gave the Cubs a rare achievement: two double-header sweeps in three days. The Cubs` fourth straight loss was made possible when Les Lancaster couldn`t protect a two-run lead in the eighth inning and made unavoidable when Jose Nunez (1-5) couldn`t stop the Phillies two innings later.
The defeat wasted a perfectly serviceable outing by Steve Wilson, who made his second strong start in a row after pitching coach Dick Pole corrected his delivery.
Wilson kept the Phillies in check through seven innings as the Cubs built a 5-1 lead. But rookie pinch-hitter Jim Vatcher opened the eighth with a single, and league-leading hitter Lenny Dykstra lofted a Wilson fastball over the right-field wall.
Dykstra`s blast made it 5-3, but Zimmer had seen his bullpen embarrassed three straight games in the last week. So he left Wilson in to face Randy Ready, who doubled down the left-field line.
”I was a little bit tired, but not exhausted by any means,” Wilson said. ”A couple of bad pitches caught up with me.”
Wilson was sent to the bullpen after ineffectiveness as a starter, but he has ripped of two strong starts in a row. Pole noticed a flaw in his delivery, and Wilson has walked only four batters in the last 13-plus innings. ”I didn`t have great stuff, but my location`s a lot better than it was before,” Wilson said.
Zimmer let Wilson face Tom Herr because he didn`t want the switch-hitting Herr to turn around and bat lefty against Lancaster. Wilson forced Herr to bounce out, and Zimmer signaled for Lancaster.
That`s the man Zimmer apologized to on Wednesday for using him three times in five games.
Lancaster took his warmups, then delivered a first pitch fastball to Charlie Hayes. It landed a few feet closer to the plate than Dykstra`s drive had.
Now it was 5-5. It was the second homer Lancaster had yielded in as many pitches; his last pitch was a grand slam by Howard Johnson on Wednesday in Wrigley Field.
Wilson was pleased with his own performance, but felt pain for Lancaster. ”He`s done a great job all year,” Wilson said. ”That`s going to happen every now and then.”
Lancaster walked the next batter and was relieved by Paul Assenmacher, who`s pitched no better recently. He saw the Cubs through the rest of the eighth, then provided some Mitch Williams-style theatrics in the ninth.
The Phils loaded the bases with one away on three straight singles, but Assenmacher hung in there. First he got Herr to pop weakly to right, then he got Hayes to line there to send the game into extra innings.
The Phils only needed one. In the top of the 10th, Assenmacher came out for pinch-hitter Dwight Smith. He sent a drive into the gap in left-center field, where it was snagged by a diving Dykstra to deny Joe Girardi the chance to drive in the go-ahead run.
In the bottom half, Kruk belted a Nunez delivery off the left-field wall and, after a walk and a Nunez error, Vatcher drilled a pitch to left field to end what serves as suspense for a fifth-place team.
The Cubs had built a 2-0 lead in the fourth on Villanueva`s first big-league triple, a sacrifice fly by Domingo Ramos and an RBI single by Jerome Walton.
They made it 5-1 in the next inning when Villanueva hit a deep drive off starter Pat Combs, Villanueva`s fourth homer in only 27 at-bats.
”Boy, he`s hit some bombs,” Zimmer said.
The biggest problem is finding a place for Villanueva to play. First baseman Mark Grace came into Friday night hitting .286, while catcher Girardi was at .267.
Zimmer said he`s thinking about playing Villanueva at third base, where the Cubs need even more help than usual because Luis Salazar is out indefinitely after spraining his ankle while sliding Friday night.
”I might play him at third base and not worry about it,” Zimmer said.
