The Cubs were shut down by Gray and two relievers Tuesday night, falling 4-2 to the Reds in a loss that hurt their playoff positioning.
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Chicago had won five in a row, outscoring its opponents 59-18 during the stretch. But it managed just two runs against Gray (11-7) before Michael Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias closed out the five-hitter for Cincinnati.
“Sonny just keeps pitching great,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He went deep into the game against a great lineup. It doesn’t really matter who he’s facing right now, the best teams, the best lineups. He’s pitching with that much confidence.”
The Cubs (82-69) dropped into a tie for the second NL wild card with Milwaukee, which held off San Diego for a 3-1 victory. They also missed out on an opportunity to gain ground on NL Central-leading St. Louis, which lost 6-2 to Washington.
Rookie Aristides Aquino hit his 16th homer for Cincinnati (71-81), and Joey Votto and Eugenio Suárez each drove in a run.
Gray struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings. The All-Star right-hander improved to 5-1 with a 1.46 ERA in his last nine outings
“I felt pretty good out there today after I kind of got going,” Gray said.
Yu Darvish (6-7) struck out 13 in seven innings for Chicago, but was hurt by a slow start. Kyle Schwarber had three hits and two RBIs.
Darvish fanned 14 in his previous start, a 4-1 win at San Diego on Thursday. He has 217 Ks in 170 1/3 innings on the year.
“Yu is on quite a run right now, but unfortunately their guy is really good, too,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “In spite of us swinging the bats well lately, Sonny did a nice job also.”
Gray departed with runners on the corners, and Lorenzen struck out Nicholas Castellanos to end the inning.
Lorenzen then worked the eighth before Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth for his 32nd save.
Darvish struck out the side in the first, but Cincinnati scored three times. Votto doubled home Josh VanMeter before Aquino hit a drive to left-center for his first homer since Sept. 2.
Aquino, who was recalled from the minors on Aug. 1, has six homers against Chicago in six games.
“I made a good pitch to Votto, but he’s a great hitter,” Darvish said. “For Aquino, that’s my mistake. I should throw a breaking ball.”
Gray helped himself in the fifth, reaching on a one-out single and eventually coming around on Suárez’s base hit to give Cincinnati a 4-2 lead.
All-Star catcher Willson Contreras started at first base in Chicago’s second game since Anthony Rizzo sprained his right ankle during Sunday’s 16-6 victory over Pittsburgh. Rizzo is wearing a walking boot for five to seven days, casting doubt on the slugger’s availability for the rest of the season.
Schwarber drove in Castellanos with a double in the first and a triple in the third.
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