Chicago's bullpen has been beleaguered of late, affected by a combination of starters not going deep enough and a spate of extra-inning games.

Carlos Zambrano leads the Cubs with four quality starts, and he went seven innings in his Monday outing. But Ted Lilly and Rich Hill have to begin picking up the slack. Lilly went six innings Tuesday. Hill pitched well enough to win Wednesday at Colorado, but he lasted only five innings for the second consecutive start.

Manager Lou Piniella used seven pitchers in Wednesday's 10-inning victory over the Rockies. He had to stay away from young right-hander Carlos Marmol, who earned the save Wednesday on his third consecutive day of work. Help may be on the way, with right-hander Bob Howry regaining his form. Howry may regain his eighth-inning role, but the starters may have to take a game or two that far in the near future.

ROCKIES 4, CUBS 2: Jason Marquis tossed his second quality start of the season, but an unearned run against reliever Kevin Hart allowed the Rockies to break a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eighth. Marquis gave up a homer to Chris Iannetta in the seventh. Shortstop Ryan Theriot's dropped ball on Troy Tulowitzki's potential double-play grounder allowed one run to score in the eighth. The Cubs saw their six-game inning streak come to an end.