Cubs put on a home run derby

Sending Joe Blanton to the mound with a stiff breeze blowing out on a steamy Tuesday evening in Wrigley Field was akin to dropping a match onto a pile of charcoal briquettes doused in lighter fluid. A combustible mix, it was.

So it was no real surprise when Blanton, who is known to give up long balls in the best of atmospheric conditions, was rocked for four home runs, including Darwin Barney’s game-breaking three-run, sixth-inning shot, in a 7-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs that dropped the Angels 10 games back in the American League West.

But here’s the kicker: Neither Manager Mike Scioscia nor Blanton, who fell to 2-11 with a 5.40 earned-run average and has given up a major league-high 22 home runs, blamed the wind, the weather or the home run-friendly park.

“It was just a bad day all around,” Blanton said. “I made some mistakes. Some days when you don’t have good stuff and you make mistakes, you hope they pop them up or hit line drives right at people. I didn’t get lucky today. Obviously, throwing pitches down the middle, you’re not going to get a lot of luck.”

Blanton gave up Anthony Rizzo’s solo home run to right field and Alfonso Soriano’s solo shot to center field in the first. Starlin Castro’s solo shot to center field gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead in the third.

Blanton struck out Luis Valbuena looking with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning, but Dioner Navarro doubled to lead off the sixth, Nate Schierholtz was hit by a pitch and Barney crushed his three-run home run to left field to push the lead to 6-0 and knock Blanton out of the game.

“You can kind of live through those solo homers and battle around everything else,” Blanton said. “Three-run homers kill you.”

Soriano, who is hitting .400 (18 for 45) with eight home runs and 17 runs batted in over his last 11 games, hit a solo shot against Michael Kohn in the seventh.

It marked the second time in Blanton’s career he has given up four home runs in a game; the last was May 1, 2012, against the Boston Red Sox as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. The last time the Angels gave up five home runs in a game was July 21 against the Texas Rangers.

“I don’t think Joe got beat by the ballpark tonight, he just had trouble making pitches,” Scioscia said. “If you make mistakes and they hit them hard and get them up, those balls aren’t coming back in most ballparks. Joe just missed some spots. It was a poor night for him.”

It was another outstanding game for left-hander Travis Wood, the National League All-Star who gave up two runs and four hits in 62/3 innings, striking out five and walking two, for his 17th quality start this season.

Wood (6-6, 2.69 ERA) blanked the Angels and gave up two singles, one by Blanton, through six innings and retired 14 batters in a row during one stretch. He lost his shutout in the seventh when Albert Pujols hit a two-run home run, the 489th homer of Pujols’ career and 27th in 87 games in Wrigley Field.

Mark Trumbo walked with two out and took third on Alberto Callaspo’s double, and pinch-hitter Hank Conger walked to load the bases. But Matt Guerrier struck out pinch-hitter Brad Hawpe.

“Wood is not going to wow you with his velocity, but he certainly had enough fastball,” Scioscia said. “He was pounding the zone, he had a good cutter, he changed speeds when he had to and kept us off balance all night.”

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