CHICAGO — Ryan Franklin thought Saturday's 7-5, 11-inning loss to the Chicago Cubs "a coin flip."

Starting pitcher Kyle Lohse, who carried a three-run lead into the fifth inning and left it with the score tied, saw things a little less generously.

"I'm handed a three-run lead there and it's my job to make it stand up. I have to take accountability for that one," Lohse said.

For the second time in as many days and for the fourth time in an 8-5 season, the Cardinals lost a game they believed could have, perhaps should have, been theirs.

Saturday's loss ended when lefthanded specialist Dennys Reyes took the hit for an overworked bullpen when he surrendered a two-out, two-run home run to Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez. It's a match-up Reyes never would have encountered except in extreme circumstances, which is where the Cardinals found themselves late in front of 40,878 at Wrigley Field.

"In extra innings games guys are going to be asked to do things they usually don't do," Franklin said.

The Cardinals may never have gotten there if Lohse had followed his earlier form. After throwing 108 and 112 pitches in 16 innings total his first two outings, Lohse stumbled just one out away from leaving Saturday's fifth with a 4-2 lead.

A pair of two-out walks preceded first baseman Derrek Lee's two-run double that chased Lohse from the game after 96 pitches. "I've got to make those guys earn their way on," Lohse said.

Lohse knew that his five innings Saturday were too few for a rotation able to carry only 23 combined the last five games.

"No doubt, it's tough," Franklin said.

Stress on the bullpen means the Cardinals will likely recall their fourth pitcher this week from Class AAA Memphis before Sunday's series finale. Saturday left the bullpen with 25 innings in the last five games.

"We talked about this when the season started: keeping (the bullpen) to the last third of the game," manager Tony La Russa recalled. "When that doesn't happen, it's a problem."

Of their five defeats, the Cardinals have lost once in the ninth inning and another time after dropping a pair of two-run leads. Saturday marked the second instance within a six-game-old road trip they have fallen after taking a three-run lead. Four of the losses have occurred when leading or tied after seven innings.

Saturday's bullpen held the game by allowing one run in five innings before Reyes entered.

"You've got to win your share of those, so we've got to compete better," La Russa said.

The Cardinals left Wrigley frustrated by a three-for-16 performance with runners in scoring position and one-for-16 production from the top third of their lineup.

"It wasn't one guy today," insisted leadoff hitter Skip Schumaker, whose third-inning single produced the first run off Cubs starter Ryan Dempster. "A lot of us had opportunities and didn't make it happen."

The Cubs converted four of seven walks into runs. The Cardinals walked eight times but converted only two.

"They walked the leadoff man in the 10th and 11th and they got away with it. That's where our execution has got to improve," La Russa said.

La Russa conceded Reyes faced an "unfair" predicament in the 11th when he confronted righthanded bats Alfonso Soriano, Lee and Ramirez.

Soriano's leadoff walk extended the inning for Ramirez to find his 10th and 11th RBIs on a pitch Reyes believed down but too far over the plate.

"He made a good adjustment," Reyes said.

The Cardinals used four walks and two singles to take a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Schumaker drove in one run with the inning's first hit and two others followed when right fielder Ryan Ludwick extended his hitting streak to 21 games with a two-run, two-out flare to right.

The Cubs reached Lohse for a run on consecutive two-out hits in the third inning. Lohse failed to retire a batter in his third trip through the order.

With one run in and two outs in the fifth, Lohse walked Soriano and center fielder Kosuke Fukudome. Lee then smacked a game-tying double to left field.

The Cubs took a 5-4 lead on a two-out rally against Kyle McClellan in the sixth inning. McClellan's walk of catcher Geovany Soto was followed by shortstop Ryan Theriot's scratch hit. Former Cardinals second baseman Aaron Miles then singled to center on a 1-2 pitch.

Dempster departed after walking four in six innings. Reliever Neal Cotts walked pinch hitter Brendan Ryan and Schumaker on eight pitches to bring clearly agitated Cubs skipper Lou Piniella to the mound.

The threat died, however, when Rick Ankiel, Albert Pujols and Ludwick failed to push a ball past fire-stopper Carlos Marmol.

The Cardinals forced a 5-5 tie against Marmol in the eighth inning but could have done more after beginning the inning with back-to-back doubles from Chris Duncan and Yadier Molina and Marmol's pitch that hit shortstop Khalil Greene.

Kevin Gregg came on to strike out lefthanded pinch hitters Joe Thurston and Colby Rasmus before getting Schumaker to ground out.

The 10th inning ended with Duncan doubled off second base on a fly ball. The Cardinals did nothing with a walk to lead off the 11th.