Cubs Outplay Arizona on the Diamond

The Diamondbacks led off Randy Wells with a home run off the bat of Willie Bloomquist to take an early 1-0 lead Monday, but that was all they would touch Cubs pitching for.  Alfonso Soriano tied the game with his second home run in as many days, and of the season, leading off the 3rd inning.  The Cubs loaded the bases in the 4th inning, and scored the go-ahead run on a Carlos Pena sacrifice fly.  Carlos Pena made a nice defensive play to make the first out of the 7th inning with a putout to Sean Marshall.  Kerry Wood got into a jam in the 8th after a Starlin Castro error, a single, and an intentional walk to load the bases, but managed to escape the inning unharmed, much like he did yesterday.  In the 8th, Geovany Soto doubled off the left field wall to score Aramis Ramirez.  Later in the inning, Soriano singled to score Soto and give the Cubs a 4-1 lead.  Carlos Marmol came in to pitch the 9th inning after a loss and a blown save Sunday, and earned his 2nd save of the season as the Cubs won 4-1.

The Cubs are now 2-2 and pull ahead of St. Louis to break the tie for third place, dependent on tonight’s Pittsburgh-St. Louis game.
As of the end of the game today, the NL Central standings are:
1) Cincinnati Reds     3-0  0GB
2) Pittsburgh Pirates  2-1  1GB
3) Chicago Cubs        2-2  1.5GB
4) St. Louis Cardinals 1-2  2GB
5) Houston Astros       0-3  3GB
6) Milwaukee Brewers  0-4 3.5GB
Triple-C Three Stars of the Game:
#3) Alfonso Soriano
#2) Randy Wells
#1) Geovany Soto
Next Game: vs. Arizona at 1:20 PM Tuesday on Comcast SportsNet

Leave a comment