CINCINNATI – Cubs rookie Brett Jackson is impressing his manager — even if he made a big blunder on the basepaths.
Xavier Paul led off the ninth inning with a pinch-hit triple and Ryan Hanigan followed with a single Sunday, giving the Cincinnati Reds a 5-4 win over the Chicago Cubs.
Jackson doubled off Aroldis Chapman with one out in the ninth but was caught stealing third base.
"He came a long way in this series with pitch recognition and had some good at-bats," manager Dale Sveum said.
The rookie's aggressiveness did not bother Sveum
"At least it was one guy trying to win the game," Sveum said. "It was just bad execution. If he got a walking lead and took off, he would have been fine. He took a step back and at that point you have to cut it off. It's one of the young things we have to live with."
The Cubs capitalized on two errors to tie the score. Third baseman Wilson Valdez misplayed Darwin Barney's potential double-play ball with no outs in the sixth, leading to Alfonso Soriano's sacrifice fly and Starlin Castro's RBI single.
Said Jackson: "I thought I had a good jump because Chapman is slow to the plate but (Ryan) Hanigan made a good throw."
Chapman (5-4) struck out two in the ninth.
Paul lined the first pitch from Shawn Camp (3-6) over first base into the right-field corner. Hanigan hit the next pitch to left-center over the drawn-in Chicago outfield.
The NL Central-leading Reds took three out of four from the Cubs and finished a 5-2 homestand.
Jay Bruce dropped Luis Valbuena's flyball near the right-field warning track with one out in the eighth inning, allowing David DeJesus to go from first to third. DeJesus scored on Soriano's groundout.
The Cubs' comeback allowed Chris Volstad to avoid the loss, but his streak of consecutive starts without a win was stretched to 24, dating to July 17, 2011, when he was pitching for the Marlins. He allowed seven hits and four runs in six innings.
"I'm done with that (thinking about the streak)," Volstad said. "If you win five in a row are you going to worry about winning your next game? If you lose five in a row are you going to worry about losing the next one or are going to go out and try to win every time you go out there? That's all I'm doing."
The errors cost Mat Latos his fourth straight win. He gave up six hits and four runs — two earned — with six strikeouts in eight innings.
"Is there stink on the field?" wondered Reds manager Dusty Baker, who said he spoke with his team about tightening up the defense while the Reds were in Chicago Aug. 9-12. "It was an ugly win, but a win's a win. We've got to tighten up the defense. That's one thing we pride ourselves in. We've just got to keep working. It's a matter of concentration. We've got to go back to total concentration."
Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead in the first on Bruce's two-out single. He is batting .406 (13 for 32) during an eight-game hitting streak, which started immediately after he got two days off.
The Cubs tied it in the third on Scott Clevenger's leadoff walk, Volstad's sacrifice and DeJesus' ground-rule double.
Consecutive singles by Bruce, Todd Frazier and Valdez to lead off the fourth produced the go-ahead run. Hanigan's sacrifice fly and Latos' RBI single made it 4-1.
NOTES: This was the 13th sellout of the season, a single-season record at 10-year-old Great American Ball Park. The previous record of 12 was set last season. ... The Cubs optioned LHP Brooks Raley to Triple-A Iowa, the day after he earned his first big league win. ... The Reds optioned RHP Todd Redmond to Triple-A Louisville, the day after he got the loss in his major league debut. ... LHP Chris Rusin will be recalled from Iowa to start for Chicago at Milwaukee on Tuesday. It will be Rusin's major league debut.
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