Cubs 4, Reds 1

The Cubs beat the Reds 4-1 on a cold, cold night at Great American.

Bronson Arroyo was good -- seven-plus innings, eight hits, four runs, two walks, nine strikeouts. He left with the score 2-1. But Ted Lilly, in the his Cub debut, limited the Reds to the one run on three hits.

“We got beat by a better starter tonight,” Arroyo said. “Lilly threw a hell of a game.”

The play the Reds are kicking themselves about is catcher David Ross' misplay of Lilly's botched bunt in the fourth inning. Lilly popped the ball up in front of the plate with the bases loaded. Ross let it drop, but he threw to second rather than step on home. "It was my fault -- totally," Ross said.

The Reds scored their run in the sixth. Arroyo bunted his way on. He was forced on Ryan Freel's groundball. Freel stole second and scored on Adam Dunn's single. He broke his bat, but the ball made to the wall on a fly.

Game-time temperature: 39 degrees. Snow swirled around at one point in the fourth inning. But Arroyo pitched in shirtsleeves. Pretty impressive for a guy from Key West. He didn't even wear a jacket when he got on base.

“I want to feel like a ballplayer out there, man” he said, “not wear a jacket like a schoolgirl. I want to play the game.”

He used a fine adjective with schoolgirl, one we can't use even on the blog.

The game got away from the Reds in the eighth. Arroyo gave up back-to-back hits to start the inning. Jerry Narron went to bullpen at that point. Both runners eventually scored.

I'm sure there will be debate about whether Arroyo should have started the eighth.

Argument for: He retired 10 of 11 going into the inning.

Argument against: The bullpen was rested and he was facing Chicago's best hitters (Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez) for the fourth time.