Game Time: 1:20 PM CT
TV: WGN
Pitching Matchup:
Cubs- Carlos Zambrano(3-2, 4.64 ERA)
Pirates- Zach Duke(5-4, 2.77 ERA)
Lineups:
Pirates
1. Nyjer Morgan, LF
2. Delwyn Young, 2B
3. Nate McLouth, CF
4. Adam LaRoche, 1B
5. Andy LaRoche, 3B
6. Brandon Moss, RF
7. Ramon Vazquez, SS
8. Jason Jaramillo, C
9. Zach Duke, P
Cubs
1. Alfonso Soriano, LF
2. Ryan Theriot, SS
3. Milton Bradley, RF
4. Derrek Lee, 1B
5. Reed Johnson, CF
6. Geovany Soto, C
7. Ryan Freel, 3B
8. Andres Blanco, 2B
9. Carlos Zambrano, P
Top of the 1st
Cubs sporting their blue jerseys with the white pants as Carlos Zambrano usually chooses to do.
Nyjer Morgan leads off for the Pirates and hits a soft liner to Theriot, 1 down.
Now he gets Delwyn Young looking on a fastball on the outside corner.
McLouth rolls over one to Derrek Lee at first base. Good to see him back, and good to see Z looking good early on.
Bottom of the 1st
Len mentions how Soriano is 14 for 25 in his career against Duke. Sorry I started this a little late today and meant to provide you such numbers earlier. Soriano gets a good swing and drives it deep to right-center, but as we're used to seeing in this series, McLouth runs it down for the 1st out.
Theriot lines a single into left-center.
Bradley rips one down the right field line that goes to the wall. Long run for Brandon Moss and he doesn't field it cleanly anyway. Theriot scores, Bradley all the way to 3rd with a triple and he's -pumped-. Slaps his hands screaming. 1-0 Cubs.
Duke falls behind 3-0 to Lee, gets it back to a 3-2 count, but ball 4 in the dirt. Didn't seem to want to give Lee much to hit there to set up the double play with Reed Johnson.
And that's exactly what they get, a 6-4-3... NOT! Delwyn Young throws it away on the turn, Reed would've been out by 10 feet. Run scores, Reed advances to 2nd. No Wilson and Sanchez in the middle infield is a nice thing to see for the Cubs today. 2 outs, 2-0 Cubs!
Soto hits one hard on a 3-1 count that I thought was ticketed for left field, but couldn't find the hole left of third base, so it's a groundout. Inning over, Cubs are smoking the ball.
Top of the 2nd
Zambrano walks Adam LaRoche to start the inning. Not what you want to see after just getting a couple of runs. Well, not what you want to see ever.
Zambrano is nowhere near the strike zone right now. He's gone 3-0 to Andy LaRoche. Finally gets a strike, but then ball 4 the pitch after it. 1st and 2nd no out.
This is frustrating. Hopefully the Cubs still have the lead after this inning but I wouldn't bet on it.
Ryan Theriot is very good friends with Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas Len tells us. Not exactly the two smartest guys, so that doesn't surprise me. Theriot made a leaping catch on a soft liner to prompt that comment. 1 out.
Ramon Vazquez lines a single into left, bases loaded.
3-1 on Jaramillo. Here comes the walk. He ends up popping out actually. 2 outs.
Zach Duke who is a very good hitting pitcher lines one to where I think will end up rolling to the right field wall off the bat, but just ends up in Derrek Lee's glove at first base thankfully. Z escapes without allowing any runs somehow.
Bottom of the 2nd
Farney continues to struggle, grounds out to 3rd.
Andres Blanco up. So used to seeing this guy in Spring Training. He grounds out Duke.
I'm feeling a Zambrano extra-base hit today, just getting that out there. Well, only a single to right field this time up.
Soriano wants that pitch back. He just missed hitting it a mile and probably should have. Instead he pops out to the shortstop in left field.
Top of the 3rd
Split-screen shows us that Zambrano's delivery to the plate changed in the 2nd inning. He was rushing the ball to the plate.
Freel playing in for the bunt and it's a good thing because he's able to range to his left in the grass on a play Theriot wouldn't have had time to get Nyjer Morgan. Bad throw, but Lee able to stretch and keep his foot on the bag.
Zambrano gets Delwyn Young looking at a fastball again. 2 strikeouts looking, and a throw from 2nd that would make Chuck Knoblauch laugh. Thank you for not playing Freddy Sanchez, John Russell.
McLouth now strikes out looking on a fastball as well. It was right down the middle, but he's complaining to the umpire for some reason.
Bottom of the 3rd
The Riot is 2 for 2 now as he lines a single up the middle. Gets his average over .280 and his OPS over .800.
Bradley takes a 2nd strike that was right down the middle and he's fighting himself. Now on a 1-2 pitch over his head he fights it off. Full count now. Draws a walk and he's pumped again, fires his bat away and starts clapping his hands.
Lee swings and misses at a pitch in the dirt. Next pitch he takes, it's just outside. Next pitch he takes again, just inside. Either could've gone either way. Groundball to the left side of the infield, 5-4-3 double play. Lee thought he was safe and the replay shows he was right. As it is, it's his first double play grounded into of the year.
Reed with a slow roller up the middle, Vazquez makes a nice running play and gets Reed by a couple of steps. Nice job by Duke to work out of trouble, although good umpiring and he gives up another run.
Top of the 4th
More bad umpiring. Zambrano had Adam LaRoche struck on a 2-2 pitch. Now a single on the next pitch of course.
Len points out how Zambrano turns 28 on Tuesday. 2-2 count to Andy LaRoche. Full now. Fouled off with the runner going. 66 pitches for Zambrano. Hard hit groundball off the leg of Zambrano, Blanco moves back to the left side of where he was positioned at 2nd base and gets the out at 1st. Would have been a single up the middle most likely. The trainer is out to look at Zambrano but he says he's fine, of course he always does.
Moss with a weak flyball maybe 10 feet in the air to Theriot. 2nd time Moss has done that today, very weird.
Soto with a nice block on a ball in the dirt, 1-1 count to Vazquez. Little blooper over Freel's head. As Len said, if it's hit hard they probably would've held the slow-moving Adam LaRoche at 3rd base. Z laughs it off. Pirates trim the lead to 2-1.
The crowd cheers as the sun comes out. Jaramillo bounces a groundball to Blanco at 2nd, inning over.
3-1 on Young. Full count now, and as expected, Young takes a fastball looking for strike 3 for a 3rd time. The silver sombrero in the 5th inning.
Falls behind another hitter, and McLouth isn't the one you want to do that against. Even at 2-2 now. I thought McLouth hit this ball twice, but apparently not, high bouncer to Lee at 1st. 2 outs, runners on 2nd and 3rd.
Intentionally walking Adam LaRoche to get to his brother Andy. I don't know if I like this very much, especially with Z struggling with his control.
Well it worked. 1st pitch a one-hopper to Blanco at 2nd, he flips to Theriot to end the inning. 97 pitches for Zambrano, 1 inning if any left for him.
Bottom of the 5th
Soriano turns on one for a groundball double down the left field line.
Theriot shows bunt, takes for a ball. Swings this time and fouls it off. Go to right field Theriot. Soriano must be getting a big lead off 2nd. Now he's bunting again, back to Duke and with no force out it's good enough to get the job done. Runner on 3rd for Bradley with 1 out.
Infield is in. Bradley fouls off the 1st and 2nd offerings from Duke. Duke looking for a strikeout and throws the next pitch way outside. Then a brushback fastball up and in, 2-2. Bradley with a high flyball, not deep enough to right field. Soriano comes halfway down the line and Moss throws a rocket in the air. Good choice to not try to score.
On a 2-1 pitch, Duke gets a very generous strike call. Lee is furious and voices his displeasure to the umpire, that's a big swing pitch. Now on 2-2 he hits a groundball hard up the middle that Knocks Young back in the outfield, but he's able to stay on his feet and get Lee by a few steps to end the inning.
Top of the 6th
Now Moss strikes out looking. 5th strikeout for Z today, all looking.
Another bloop single. I don't think the Pirates have a hit that was very well struck today.
2 down now as Jaramillo flies out.
Duke strikes out swinging. That should be it for Zambrano, 108 pitches. Remember he just came off the disabled list lsat week and this is the most he's thrown in a few weeks. Carlos Marmol and Angel Guzman haven't thrown out of the pen in a few days either.
Bottom of the 6th
Reed hits it hard but McLouth doesn't have to move much in center.
Soto pulls the first pitch on the ground to 3rd base, 2 down.
Fontenot continues to his hot hitting, singles into right field, off of a lefty even. Up to .225 now.
Blanco batting left-handed this time. Lazy flyball out to right field, inning over.
Top of the 7th
Crazy couple of plays just happened. Nyjer Morgan hits one down the left field line, Soriano misplays a single into a triple.
Delwyn Young pops out in the infield for the 1st out.
Wild pitch that doesn't get far away from Soto. Morgan tries to score and it appears he is out, he's called safe. Zambrano freaks out and there is contact with the umpire, but instigated by the umpire, not Zambrano. Zambrano throws his glove, throws the ball into left field after being ejected.
Didn't see what caused the next out, then a fly out to the wall in center to end the inning. Reed with a great catch running into the ivy.
Bottom of the 7th
Hoffpauir pinch-hits for Guzman who entered to face 2 batters after the ejection, and pops out.
Soriano strikes out swinging.
Theriot singles up the middle.
Bradley misses a double which likely would've given them the lead by a foot, then just misses one and flies out to left to end the inning.
Top of the 8th
Andy LaRoche flies out to center field with Carlos Marmol now in the game.
Brandon Moss singles to right.
1-1 now on Vazquez, Marmol drops in a nice slider to make it 1-2. Vazquez thought he checked his swing, but the home plate umpire says he swung, strike 3.
Jaramillo softly flies out to left field to end the inning.
Bottom of the 8th
Jesse Chavez enters for the Pirates. The crowd thinks Lee's flyball might have a chance but it's a routine out.
Reed Johnson deep into left field and it's gone! 3-2 Cubs!!!
Geovany Soto with a nice piece of hitting, singles into right-center. Sean Burnett now coming in for the Pirates.
Fontenot flies out to center, 2 outs.
Andres Blanco batting left-handed again against the left-hander, remember he's a switch-hitter, batted right-handed the first time. Rips one down the right field line, Quade sends Soto... SAFE! Incredible slide. 4-2 Cubs.
Triple Crown leader in all of the minor leagues, Jake Fox, at the plate. On a full count, he crushes it to the wall in right-center for an RBI double. Looks like it doesn't matter what level he's hitting at right now. 5-2 Cubs!
The sun just came out again and it causes trouble for the Pirates infielders, but Adam LaRoche is able to snag a pop up to end the inning.
Top of the 9th
Kevin Gregg in, Freddy Sanchez pinch-hitting. Falls behind 3-1, 3-2 now. Looks like he strikes out Sanchez but it's called ball 4. Disagree with that call.
Freddy Sanchez finally does something wrong! Very wrong. For some idiotic reason, he kept running on a deep flyball off the bat of Nyjer Morgan which Bradley ran down. I'll admit, I thought it was gone off the bat, but his run does not matter, he should not be going more than halfway. Instead, he's all the way at 3rd base when Bradley catches it, Cubs double him off on a ball that almost went to the wall.
A couple borderline calls go Delwyn Young's way. Len is laughing that Young isn't swinging still on those after striking out looking 3 times already today.
0-2 on McLouth. He goes down swinging, CUBS WIN! A WINNING STREAK!
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