BOSTON -- A disastrous 8th inning handed the Cubs a 6-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night, and it also gave the Red Sox the 2-1 series win.
Cubs 42-year-old relief pitcher Koji Uehara (L, 0-2), pitching for the second day in a row, gave up three consecutive singles to start the bottom of the 8th with the game tied at 2. He was relieved by Pedro Strop who gave up a run on a wild pitch and another run on a groundout. Two more runs scored when Anthony Rizzo was unable to pick Addison Russell's throw out of the dirt at first base.
Chicago was unable to get anything against Boston closer Craig Kimbrel in the 9th and fell to 5-4 on the 10 day, 9 game road trip.
"I'll take a 5-4 road trip. I will. I'll take a winning month. I will," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "We are not clicking on all cylinders yet. We had opportunities to score more runs early and didn't do it. But overall I thought it was a really good road trip."
Matt Barnes (W, 3-0) picked up the win in relief for the Red Sox, pitching a perfect eighth inning.
The Cubs tied the game in the seventh inning when Jon Jay scored from on a wild pitch that the catcher could not find.
Kris Bryant hit his 69th career home run and his fourth this season in the fifth which cut the lead to 2-1. The home run also extended Bryant's hitting streak to 11 games.
Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks was effective, pitching 6 innings giving 3 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks with 6 strikeouts. However, one of the three hits allowed by Hendricks was a long 2-run homer in the first from Hanley Ramirez to continue the Cubs' trend of giving up runs early.
Chicago will return home on Monday to take on Philadelphia at 7:05 PM CT. Brett Anderson (2-0, 3.54) will face Vince Velasquez (1-2, 6.33).