ST. LOUIS _ Cubs manager Joe Maddon made a bold pregame prediction Friday night regarding pitcher Yu Darvish.
"He's almost unhittable," Maddon said. "You'll see the best pitcher in the National League if we can get to the point where the walks are less."
Darvish validated most of Maddon's declaration by pitching six innings of three-hit ball against the Cardinals. But the lack of clutch hitting caught up to the Cubs in a 2-1 loss in 10 innings.
Mike Mongtomery, the Cubs' fourth reliever, allowed a double to Kolten Wong with one out in the 10th and was replaced by Dillon Maples. But Harrison Bader and pinch-hitter Jedd Gyorko drew walks to load the bases.
Steve Cishek took over for Maples as the Cubs employed a five-man infield. But the strategy failed as Matt Carpenter hit a fly ball down the left-field line that fell out of the reach of Albert Almora Jr.
The Cubs were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and are hitless in their last 23 at-bats with runners in scoring position over their last three games.
This marked the third consecutive start Darvish pitched at least six innings. It didn't look like he had a chance at the start, as he walked the first two Cardinals batters and hurled a wild pitch before retiring the next nine batters.
Darvish didn't allow a hit until a leadoff single by Paul Goldschmidt in the fourth. But he struck out Marcell Ozuna and Matt Wieters grounded into a double play.
Ozuna accounted for the Cardinals' first run on a sacrifice fly in the first.
Meanwhile, Darvish helped his cause when he hit a sacrifice fly to score Victor Caratini, who hit a double to start the second.
But the Cubs struggled to give Darvish support. They loaded the bases in the first, but Addison Russell lined to center. Jason Heyward and Russell opened the fourth with singles, but Caratini flied to center and Almora grounded into a double play.
With two out in the seventh, Almora smacked a hit to right-center, and the ball skipped past a diving Bader for a triple.
David Bote, pinch-hitting for Darvish, flied to center on Miles Mikolas' 104th pitch.
