Marmol finally gets hit

I was watching the Cubs last night when Carlos Marmol came in to pitch the eighth inning. Marmol was greeted with a leadoff single to right, which prompted Cubs announcer Len Kasper to point out, "that's the first hit he's given up since June 8th."

Of course, that doesn't mean he'd pitched well. In fact, he had been stinking up the joint lately. He hadn't given up any hits because he wasn't throwing strikes. He made seven straight hitless appearances before last night, and the first four of those were solid. But, last week against Tampa, he walked the first two batters he faced, then hit the next two, plating a run. Scott Eyre then came into the game and gave up a granny to Carl Crawford, so Marmol was charged with four runs, even though he didn't allow a hit.

In his next outing against the White Sox, he walked the bases loaded before allowing a run on a wild pitch. He did manage to get out of the inning unscathed otherwise.

Finally, in the first game against Baltimore, he seemed to have settled down some. Although he did hit another batter, he didn't allow anything else.

So, in three outings totaling two innings, he walked five, hit three more, threw a wild pitch and gave up five runs.

But no hits.