CINCINNATI _ Yu Darvish had good stuff most of the night Friday against the Reds, but when he missed his pitches, he paid dearly for it.
Darvish gave up only four hits over six innings, but three of those hits were home runs accounting for four runs in a 5-2 Cubs loss.
The Reds tied the series at a game apiece, with the Cubs' Kyle Hendricks facing Sonny Gray on Saturday.
The Cubs tried to keep their hometown mojo going Friday by hanging their white, pinstriped home jerseys in their lockers to offset their horrid road record.
"Whatever they want," manager Joe Maddon said beforehand. "I'm so not involved in this one right now. Just so we play like (Thursday) night, I'll take it."
But it didn't work this time. They didn't play at all like Thursday, winding up with only five hits while striking out 13 times. The Cubs are 41-19 at Wrigley Field but dropped to 22-34 on the road with the loss.
Nicholas Castellanos started the scoring in the first with a solo home run to center off Trevor Bauer, his third in the last two games at the Great American Ball Park.
But rookie right fielder Aristides Aquino hit a two-run home run to right to put the Reds on top in the second, and Eugenio Suarez led off the fourth with a solo shot. Joey Votto added the third homer off Darvish, another solo shot in the sixth.
Darvish allowed four runs and struck out nine, falling to 4-6.
The Cubs blew some scoring chances off Bauer, stranding runners on second and third with one out in the fourth. Ian Happ struck out on a 94-mph fastball in the sixth with runners on the corners and two outs.
Bauer went seven innings in his second start for the Reds, striking out 11 and allowing one run on three hits.
The Cubs had one last shot in the eighth after Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 5-2 with no outs. But Javier Baez grounded into a forceout at home, Happ struck out again and Kyle Schwarber grounded out to first.
Reds closer Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth to end it.
