GAME THREAD: NL: CHICAGO CUBS (71-69) at PITTSBURGH (62-79)

NL: CHICAGO CUBS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">NL AT PITTSBURGH - PITCHING CHANGE
CHN: RYAN DEMPSTER (2-5, 3.88) STARTING THE 9TH
CURRENT SCORE: CHICAGO CUBS 5, PITTSBURGH 1

DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: J WILSON (.287, 0-FOR-2, RBI)</div>

 

NL: CHICAGO CUBS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">NL AT PITTSBURGH - MID INNING UPDATE
PLAY: M Kata hit for J Grabow.
SITUATION: 0 RUNS IN, NONE ON, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: CHICAGO CUBS 5
PITTSBURGH 1 BOTTOM, 9TH

DUE UP FOR PITTSBURGH: M Kata (.271, 1 HR, 8 RBI)</div>

 

NL: CHICAGO CUBS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">NL FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
CHICAGO CUBS 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 5 8 0
PITTSBURGH 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 2 (FINAL)

BATTERIES: CHN - CARLOS ZAMBRANO, CARLOS MARMOL (7TH), BOBBY HOWRY (8TH), RYAN
DEMPSTER (9TH) AND JASON KENDALL

PIT - IAN SNELL, FRANQUELIS OSORIA (8TH), JOHN GRABOW
(9TH) AND RONNY PAULINO

HOME RUNS: CHN - ALFONSO SORIANO (23) OFF IAN SNELL IN THE 5TH, 1 ON

PIT - NONE</div>

 

NL: CHICAGO CUBS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">NL FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
CHICAGO CUBS 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 5 8 0
PITTSBURGH 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 2 (FINAL)

BATTERIES: CHN - CARLOS ZAMBRANO, CARLOS MARMOL (7TH), BOBBY HOWRY (8TH), RYAN
DEMPSTER (9TH) AND JASON KENDALL

PIT - IAN SNELL, FRANQUELIS OSORIA (8TH), JOHN GRABOW
(9TH) AND RONNY PAULINO


WP - CARLOS ZAMBRANO (15-12)
LP - IAN SNELL (9-12)
SAVE - NONE

HOME RUNS: CHN - ALFONSO SORIANO (23) OFF IAN SNELL IN THE 5TH, 1 ON

PIT - NONE


TIME: 2:31 ATT: 33,373

PROBABLES: CHN - STEVE TRACHSEL (0-1, 4.50)
PIT - MATT MORRIS (8-9, 4.54)</div>

 

NL: CHICAGO CUBS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">CHICAGO CUBS (5) VS PITTSBURGH (1) - FINAL

CHICAGO CUBS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Soriano lf 4 1 1 2 0 1 1 .296
R Theriot ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 .281
D Lee 1b 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 .312
A Ramirez 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 .315
C Floyd rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 .282
F Pie cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .213
M DeRosa 2b 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 .290
J Kendall c 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 .286
J Jones cf-rf 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 .266
C Zambrano p 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 .271
C Marmol p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Howry p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-G Soto ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .333
R Dempster p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 33 5 8 5 1 4 6

a-struck out swinging for B Howry in the 9th.

BATTING: 2B - J Kendall (8, I Snell). 3B - R Theriot (2, I Snell); J Jones (2,
J Grabow). HR - A Soriano (23, 5th inning off I Snell 1 on, 1 Out). S - C
Zambrano. RBI - D Lee (73), A Soriano 2 (51), J Jones 2 (54). 2-out RBI - J
Jones. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - M DeRosa 2, G Soto 1. Team LOB
- 4.

BASERUNNING: CS - J Kendall (3, 2nd base by I Snell/R Paulino).


PITTSBURGH ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
N Morgan cf 5 0 0 0 0 2 2 .240
N McLouth rf-lf 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 .247
F Sanchez 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .314
J Bay lf 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .253
R Doumit rf 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 .274
A LaRoche 1b 3 1 1 0 1 1 2 .270
J Bautista 3b 1 0 0 0 3 1 0 .259
R Paulino c 3 0 0 0 1 1 4 .257
J Wilson ss 3 0 0 1 0 2 2 .286
I Snell p 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 .100
a-J Phelps ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 .387
F Osoria p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
J Grabow p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-M Kata ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .267

Totals 28 1 2 1 7 12 15

a-struck out swinging for I Snell in the 7th; b-flied out to center for J
Grabow in the 9th.

BATTING: SF - J Wilson. RBI - J Wilson (50). Runners left in scoring position,
2 out - A LaRoche 1, R Paulino 2, N Morgan 1. Team LOB - 9.

FIELDING: E - N Morgan (1, bobble); A LaRoche (5, ground ball).


----------------------------------------------------
CHICAGO CUBS - 100 020 101 -- 5
PITTSBURGH - 000 000 100 -- 1
----------------------------------------------------

CHICAGO CUBS ip h r er bb so hr era
C Zambrano (W, 15-12) 6 2 1 1 5 8 0 4.26
C Marmol (H, 15) 1 2/3 0 0 0 2 2 0 1.40
B Howry (H, 21) 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.62
R Dempster 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.81

PITTSBURGH ip h r er bb so hr era
I Snell (L, 9-12) 7 7 4 3 1 3 1 4.00
F Osoria 1 2/3 0 1 1 0 0 0 3.93
J Grabow 1/3 1 0 0 0 1 0 3.61

C Zambrano pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.

BALK - C Marmol. HBP - N McLouth (by C Marmol); M DeRosa (by F Osoria).
Pitches-strikes: C Zambrano 112-67; C Marmol 29-15; B Howry 3-3; R Dempster
13-10; I Snell 93-60; F Osoria 13-10; J Grabow 8-4. Ground balls-fly balls: C
Zambrano 7-3; C Marmol 2-1; B Howry 1-0; R Dempster 0-1; I Snell 9-7; F Osoria
4-1; J Grabow 0-0. Batters faced: C Zambrano 25; C Marmol 8; B Howry 1; R
Dempster 3; I Snell 28; F Osoria 6; J Grabow 2.

UMPIRES: HP--Sam Holbrook. 1B--Randy Marsh. 2B--Bob Davidson. 3B--Hunter
Wendelstedt.

T--2:31. Att--33,373.
Weather: 81 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 3 mph, out to
right.</div>

 

NL: CHICAGO CUBS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
NL
CHICAGO CUBS 5
PITTSBURGH 1 FINAL</div>

 

Zambrano strong as Cubs beat Pirates

<h3>CHICAGO CUBS 5, PITTSBURGH 1</h3>PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Carlos Zambrano wouldn't have beenhearing boos in Chicago after his latest performance.

The embattled righthander carried a one-hitter into the seventhinning as the Chicago Cubs posted a 5-1 victory over thePittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.


Alfonso Soriano homered for the Cubs (72-69), who entered tiedfor first place with the Milwaukee Brewers for first place inthe National League Central, one game ahead of the St. LouisCardinals. Milwaukee (71-69) is playing at Cincinnati while St.Louis is at Arizona.


Zambrano (15-12) entered having lost five straight starts and0-3 with a 9.56 ERA since signing a five-year, $91.5 millioncontract extension. In his last outing Sunday against the LosAngeles Dodgers, Zambrano was booed by the fans at Wrigley Fieldafter being tagged for eight runs in 4 1/3 frames. TheVenezuelan shot back at the fans through the media after thegame.


And it didn't look good on paper for Zambrano against the<div class="pre">Pirates, who had beaten him four times in five starts against</div>them this season.


But the righthander allowed just a first-inning single to NateMcLouth and three walks entering the seventh frame. AdamLaRoche singled to lead off the frame and Zambrano issued walksto Jose Bautista and Ryan Doumit, ending his night.Hard-throwing Carlos Marmol entered, surrendered a sacrifice flyto Jack Wilson before retiring the next two batters to escape.

Marmol, however, loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth,but Bobby Howry got Ronnie Paulino on a groundout to end thatthreat and Ryan Dempster finished off the Bucs in the ninth.

Chicago got to Pittsburgh starter Ian Snell (9-12) in the first,when rookie Ryan Theriot tripled to right and Derrek Leefollowed with a ground single to left field. Soriano increasedthe edge to 3-0 with a two-run homer - his 23rd and third inthree days - off Snell in the fifth.


Chicago added a fourth run in the seventh, when Jason Kendalldoubled and scored on a ground ball hit by Jacque Jones thatwent right through LaRoche's legs at first base for an error.Jones capped the scoring with an RBI triple in the ninth.

Snell, who won for just the second time in 11 starts on lastSunday when he allowed five hits in seven scoreless innings, wascharged with four runs - three earned - and seven hits in seveninnings.


Pittsburgh left fielder Jason Bay left the game in the fifthinning with a knee injury.

 

NL: CHICAGO CUBS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHICAGO CUBS (5) AT PITTSBURGH (1) - HOW THEY SCORED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHICAGO CUBS 1ST: A Soriano struck out swinging. R Theriot tripled to deep
right. D Lee singled to left, R Theriot scored. A Ramirez singled to left
center, D Lee to second. C Floyd grounded out to pitcher, D Lee to third,
A Ramirez to second. M DeRosa struck out swinging. (1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors)
CHICAGO CUBS 1, PITTSBURGH 0.

CHICAGO CUBS 5TH: J Jones walked. C Zambrano sacrificed to catcher,
J Jones to second. A Soriano homered to left, J Jones scored. R Theriot flied
out to right. D Lee lined out to second. (2 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)
CHICAGO CUBS 3, PITTSBURGH 0.

CHICAGO CUBS 7TH: J Kendall doubled to deep center, J Kendall to third on
error by center fielder N Morgan. J Jones safe at second on error by first
baseman A LaRoche, J Kendall scored, J Jones advanced to first on play, J Jones
tagged out at second attempting to advance on play. C Zambrano struck out
swinging. A Soriano grounded out to pitcher. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 2 Errors)
CHICAGO CUBS 4, PITTSBURGH 0.

PITTSBURGH 7TH: A LaRoche singled to center. J Bautista walked, A LaRoche
to second. R Paulino walked, A LaRoche to third, J Bautista to second.
C Marmol relieved C Zambrano. J Wilson hit sacrifice fly to left, A LaRoche
scored. J Phelps hit for I Snell. J Phelps struck out swinging. N Morgan
grounded out to second. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 4, PITTSBURGH 1.

CHICAGO CUBS 9TH: C Floyd grounded out to first. M DeRosa hit by pitch.
J Kendall flied out to left. J Grabow relieved F Osoria. J Jones tripled to deep
center, M DeRosa scored. G Soto hit for B Howry. G Soto struck out swinging.
(1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 5, PITTSBURGH 1.</div>

 

NL: CHICAGO CUBS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHICAGO CUBS (5) AT PITTSBURGH (1) - EVENT LOG
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chicago Cubs Starting Lineups -- A Soriano LF, R Theriot SS, D Lee 1B,
A Ramirez 3B, C Floyd RF, M DeRosa 2B, J Kendall C, J Jones CF, C Zambrano RHP.

Pittsburgh Starting Lineups -- N Morgan CF, N McLouth RF, F Sanchez 2B, J Bay LF,
A LaRoche 1B, J Bautista 3B, R Paulino C, J Wilson SS, I Snell RHP.

Umpires -- Sam Holbrook (HP), Randy Marsh (1B), Bob Davidson (2B),
Hunter Wendelstedt (3B).

Gametime Weather: 81 degrees, Cloudy, wind out to right at 3 mph.


CHICAGO CUBS 1ST: A Soriano struck out swinging. R Theriot tripled to deep
right. D Lee singled to left, R Theriot scored. A Ramirez singled to left
center, D Lee to second. C Floyd grounded out to pitcher, D Lee to third,
A Ramirez to second. M DeRosa struck out swinging. (1 Run, 3 Hits, 0 Errors)
CHICAGO CUBS 1, PITTSBURGH 0.

PITTSBURGH 1ST: N Morgan struck out looking. N McLouth singled to left.
F Sanchez flied out to center. J Bay walked, N McLouth to second. A LaRoche
struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 1, PITTSBURGH 0.

CHICAGO CUBS 2ND: J Kendall grounded out to shortstop. J Jones grounded
out to second. C Zambrano singled to right. A Soriano flied out to center.
(0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 1, PITTSBURGH 0.

PITTSBURGH 2ND: J Bautista struck out swinging. R Paulino grounded out to
third. J Wilson struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 1,
PITTSBURGH 0.

CHICAGO CUBS 3RD: R Theriot grounded out to shortstop. D Lee flied out to
right. A Ramirez flied out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 1, PITTSBURGH 0.

PITTSBURGH 3RD: I Snell struck out swinging. N Morgan grounded out to
pitcher. N McLouth walked. F Sanchez grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits,
0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 1, PITTSBURGH 0.

CHICAGO CUBS 4TH: N McLouth in left field. R Doumit in right field. C Floyd
lined out to left. M DeRosa singled to right. J Kendall grounded into
fielder's choice to shortstop, M DeRosa out at second. J Kendall caught
stealing second, catcher to shortstop.(0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 1,
PITTSBURGH 0.

PITTSBURGH 4TH: R Doumit struck out swinging. A LaRoche grounded out to
first. J Bautista walked. R Paulino struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits,
0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 1, PITTSBURGH 0.

CHICAGO CUBS 5TH: J Jones walked. C Zambrano sacrificed to catcher,
J Jones to second. A Soriano homered to left, J Jones scored. R Theriot flied
out to right. D Lee lined out to second. (2 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)
CHICAGO CUBS 3, PITTSBURGH 0.

PITTSBURGH 5TH: J Wilson lined out to shortstop. I Snell struck out
looking. N Morgan grounded out to shortstop. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
CHICAGO CUBS 3, PITTSBURGH 0.

CHICAGO CUBS 6TH: A Ramirez grounded out to third. C Floyd popped out to
second. M DeRosa grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
CHICAGO CUBS 3, PITTSBURGH 0.

PITTSBURGH 6TH: N McLouth grounded out to first. F Sanchez flied out to
center. R Doumit grounded out to pitcher. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
CHICAGO CUBS 3, PITTSBURGH 0.

CHICAGO CUBS 7TH: J Kendall doubled to deep center, J Kendall to third on
error by center fielder N Morgan. J Jones safe at second on error by first
baseman A LaRoche, J Kendall scored, J Jones advanced to first on play, J Jones
tagged out at second attempting to advance on play. C Zambrano struck out
swinging. A Soriano grounded out to pitcher. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 2 Errors)
CHICAGO CUBS 4, PITTSBURGH 0.

PITTSBURGH 7TH: A LaRoche singled to center. J Bautista walked, A LaRoche
to second. R Paulino walked, A LaRoche to third, J Bautista to second.
C Marmol relieved C Zambrano. J Wilson hit sacrifice fly to left, A LaRoche
scored. J Phelps hit for I Snell. J Phelps struck out swinging. N Morgan
grounded out to second. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 4, PITTSBURGH 1.

CHICAGO CUBS 8TH: F Osoria relieved I Snell. R Theriot grounded out to
second. D Lee grounded out to second. A Ramirez grounded out to second.
(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 4, PITTSBURGH 1.

PITTSBURGH 8TH: N McLouth hit by pitch. F Sanchez grounded out to catcher,
N McLouth to second. R Doumit struck out swinging. N McLouth to third on balk
by C Marmol. A LaRoche walked. J Bautista walked, A LaRoche to second.
B Howry relieved C Marmol. R Paulino grounded out to second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits,
0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 4, PITTSBURGH 1.

CHICAGO CUBS 9TH: C Floyd grounded out to first. M DeRosa hit by pitch.
J Kendall flied out to left. J Grabow relieved F Osoria. J Jones tripled to deep
center, M DeRosa scored. G Soto hit for B Howry. G Soto struck out swinging.
(1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 5, PITTSBURGH 1.

PITTSBURGH 9TH: F Pie in center field. J Jones in right field. R Dempster
relieved B Howry. J Wilson struck out swinging. M Kata hit for J Grabow.
M Kata flied out to center. N Morgan struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits,
0 Errors) CHICAGO CUBS 5, PITTSBURGH 1.</div>

 

Re: NL: CHICAGO CUBS (71-69) at PITTSBURGH (62-79)

Zambrano finally gets his 15th win. Hopefully he starts back his dominance for atleast a 5 game strech and the Cubs go on a run to run away with the Central Division.</p>

 

Zambrano strong as Cubs beat Pirates

<h3>CHICAGO CUBS 5, PITTSBURGH 1</h3>PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Carlos Zambrano wouldn't have beenhearing boos in Chicago after his latest performance.

The embattled righthander carried a one-hitter into the seventhinning as the Chicago Cubs posted a 5-1 victory over thePittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.


Alfonso Soriano homered for the Cubs (72-69), who remained tiedfor first place with the Milwaukee Brewers for first place inthe National League Central, one game ahead of the St. LouisCardinals. Milwaukee (72-69) beat the Cincinnati Reds while St.Louis is at Arizona.


"He really had his thing going," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracysaid. "He had the cutter and he had the splitter and you saw howtough he was. He's very capable of doing that any time hetakes the mound."


Zambrano (15-12) entered having lost five straight starts and0-3 with a 9.56 ERA since signing a five-year, $91.5 millioncontract extension. In his last outing Sunday against the LosAngeles Dodgers, Zambrano was booed by the fans at Wrigley Fieldafter being tagged for eight runs in 4 1/3 frames. TheVenezuelan shot back at the fans through the media after thegame.


"I had a nice talk with him and the pitching coach the other dayand I said, 'Let's put all that behind you.' We need a strongfinish from you," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "That's what'simportant and he rewarded us with a really good performance.Just get into a good rhythm and throw the ball and challenge thehitters. That's what we talked about a few days ago."

It didn't look good on paper for Zambrano against the Pirates,who had beaten him four times in five starts against them thisseason.


The righthander allowed just a first-inning single to NateMcLouth and three walks entering the seventh frame. AdamLaRoche singled to lead off the frame and Zambrano issued walksto Jose Bautista and Ryan Doumit before departing.

"He's in the habit of getting people out and that's exactly whathe did," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. "It's good to see yourNo. 1 starter with a win after (six) starts (that resulted in aCubs loss). He pitched a good ball game. We jumped out to anearly lead which is good to see."


Zambrano finished allowing one runs and two hits with five walksand eight strikeouts in six-plus innings.


"I've been feeling good the last two or three starts, Zambranosaid. "Larry (Rothschild) talked to me the other day and he saidI was giving up a lot of runs with two outs, so I tried to makeadjustments today with two outs. It was hot and humid, but Iwent out there and just tried to do my job, even with two outs.

"I was trying to do too much for the team, but I know we have agood bullpen. Everybody here is trying to do their best to leadthis team to the playoffs."


Hard-throwing Carlos Marmol entered, surrendered a sacrifice flyto Jack Wilson before retiring the next two batters to escape.Marmol, however, loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth,but Bobby Howry got Ronnie Paulino on a groundout to end thatthreat and Ryan Dempster finished off the Bucs in the ninth.

"Marmol did a really good job of getting out of the seventh andHowry did a real nice job of getting out of the eighth, andDempster finished it up so it was a good win," Piniella said."Let's hope we can win the series tomorrow."


Chicago got to Pittsburgh starter Ian Snell (9-12) in the first,when rookie Ryan Theriot tripled to right and Derrek Leefollowed with a ground single to left field. Soriano increasedthe edge to 3-0 with a two-run homer - his 23rd and third inthree days - off Snell in the fifth.


Chicago added a fourth run in the seventh, when Jason Kendalldoubled and scored on a ground ball hit by Jacque Jones thatwent right through LaRoche's legs at first base for an error.Jones capped the scoring with an RBI triple in the ninth.

Snell, who won for just the second time in 11 starts on lastSunday when he allowed five hits in seven scoreless innings, wascharged with four runs - three earned - and seven hits in seveninnings.


Pittsburgh left fielder Jason Bay left the game in the fifthinning with a knee injury