The Rich Hill conundrum is one that has left the Cubs searching for answers for more than a year.
How can a kid look so untouchable in the minors and so average once he dons a Cubs uniform?
Called up from Triple-A Iowa for his fifth stint with the Cubs, Hill was removed in the fourth inning of a 5-4 victory over St. Louis on Thursday night at Wrigley Field.
But the Cubs managed to turn in their best defensive performance to date, with Todd Walker at second, Juan Pierre in center, Aramis Ramirez at third and Jacque Jones in right all making flashy catches.
“You play good defense, you have a chance to win a lot of ballgames,” manager Dusty Baker said. “We played great defense tonight.”
Hill, the 26-year-old left-hander out of the University of Michigan, was 7-1 at A Iowa with a 1.80 earned-run average. Against the Cardinals, he allowed four runs on six hits, three walks and a hit batter.
“He has good stuff,” Baker said. “He just has to work on location.”
The Cubs staked Hill to a quick 2-0 lead on back-to-back homers by Walker and Michael Barrett in the first.
But Hill walked Scott Rolen leading off the second and served up a two-run homer to Juan Encarnacion on the next pitch. A stumbling Matt Murton then turned Hector Luna’s fly ball to the wall into a run-scoring double.
Encarnacion added an RBI single in the third to make it 4-2.
Hill was removed after loading the bases in the fourth and Michael Wuertz bailed the Cubs out of the jam, inducing Albert Pujols’ inning-ending, double-play groundout.
The Cubs scored three in the sixth off starter Jeff Weaver and the Cardinals bullpen to get Hill off the hook, pulling ahead 5-4 on Rolen’s error on Barrett’s two-out, bases-loaded grounder.
Ramirez and Jones helped squelch a potential rally off Bob Howry in the eighth, with Ramirez making a diving catch of Chris Duncan’s liner and Jones doing a backward somersault after a leaping catch of Pujols’ long drive to the vines in right that ended the inning.
Closer Ryan Dempster gave up a pair of hits in the ninth before earning his 18th save.
