Game 17 Recap

Pirates: 1

CUBS: 13

W: Marquis (1-0, 3.86 ERA)
L: Gorzelanny (1-2. 9.35 ERA)

Jason Marquis contributed on the mound and at the plate Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field, helping the Cubs demolish the Pirates, 13-1.

On the mound, Marquis (1-0) turned in a solid performance, striking out seven and allowing only one earned run in six innings of work. In the batters box, Marquis made up for the one earned run he surrendered by smacking an RBI double.

Derrek Lee continued his incredible start by burying a line drive over the left center field wall for a home run in the bottom of the first to give the Cubs an early 2-0 lead. The homer was Lee’s seventh of the season, best in the Major Leagues.

Up 2-0 thanks to Lee, the Cubs put the game away in the third inning.

Mark DeRosa started things off in the third by singling home Aramis Ramirez. The Cubs then capitalized on two mistakes by the Pirates. Koskue Fukudome scored and DeRosa advanced to third on a throwing error by Pittsburgh catcher Ryan Doumit, who threw the ball into left field while trying to catch Fukudome at third base on a double steal by the pair. DeRosa scored a short time later when Pittsburgh starter Tom Gorzelanny threw a wild pitch to the next hitter, Ronny Cedeno. Marquis capped the third inning by smoking a double to deep right field, scoring Cedeno. By the time the third was over, it was 7-0 Cubs.

The Pirates lone run of the day came in the fifth when Nate McLouth scored on a Freddy Sanchez double to make it 7-1 Cubs.

The Cubs answered in the bottom-half of the fifth, hanging another three on the Pirates thanks to a based-loaded walk to Fukudome, a Mark DeRosa sacrifice fly, and a Ronny Cedeno single, to put the Cubs up 11-1.

Daryle Ward, who replaced Lee at first base in the sixth inning after Lee left the game with minor stiffness in his neck, smacked a two-run homer to right field in the seventh to put an exclamation point on the 13-1 win. The home run was Ward’s first of the season.

Matt Murton, who has seen a lot of time in the Majors during his career, was called up from Triple-A Iowa prior to the game.  Murton, who was 0-for-2 on the day, pinch-hit for Marquis in the sixth, before staying in the game and playing left field.

Most Valuable Cub
Jason Marquis:
6.0 IP, 6 H, ER, 7 K
1-3, 2B, RBI

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Game 16 Recap

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The Chicago Cubs grabbed their tenth victory, in sixteen tries, today. A big fourth inning paired with solid pitching help the boys in blue down the Pittsburgh Pirates who fell to 7-9. The Cubs continued their dominance of the Buccos extending their season record to 4-0 against their division “rival,” outscoring them 26-17 in their four meetings. Rich Hill was able to pitch five strong innings to qualify for the win and perhaps has started to turn around his slow start.

The Pirates opened the scoring in the second inning when Jason Bay scored on Xavier Nady’s single. The Cubs then took the lead with a three spot in the third. Kosuke Fukudome lead off the inning with a triple, which Mark DeRosa followed with a single. Catcher Geovany Soto, the third hitter of the inning, doubled to center putting runners at second and third. Reed Johnson then came to the plate and drove in DeRosa with an infield single. Hill, and second baseman Eric Patterson followed with a pair of Fielder’s Choice grounders. Patterson’s F.C. brought Soto home for the third run closing out the Cubs’ scoring.

Rich Hill made the best of his first start in eight days going five innings and allowing only one run on three hits. Hill picked up his first decision of the year and is now 1-0, the CUbs are 2-1 in games that he starts. Jon Lieber, who is the primary candidate to replace Hill if his struggles continue, and Sean Marshall combine to get the Cubs out of the sixth. Carlos Marmol then threw the seventh and eighth recording five strikeouts but did give up a home run. Kerry Wood came in to pitch the ninth and earn his fourth save.

Numbers and Notes:

W: Hill (1-0, 3.86 E.R.A., 3H, 1R, 4K, 3BB)

L: Snell (2-1, 4.07 E.R.A., 9H, 3R, 5K, 1BB)

S: Wood (4S, 3.60 E.R.A., 0H, 0R, 1K)

Most Valuable Cub: DeRosa, (2-4, 1R.B.I., 1R, 0 L.O.B.)

Number of the Day – 2 – the Cubs had two doubles and two triples today, Carlos Marmol pitched two innings.

Image Credits

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