Morning Box Score: Cubs Rout Houston; White Sox Fumble KC Finale
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 24, 2013 2:30PM
With summer in full swing across Chicago the Cubs set a season high in runs at Wrigley Field Sunday to back another solid start by Jeff Samardzija. Ryan Sweeney homered and drove in a career-high six runs, Anthony Rizzo added a two-run shot and Nate Schierholtz drove in two runs to pace the Cubs. Samardzija allowed four runs (three earned) in seven innings before Dale Sveum called in the bullpen to close the game.
It's a familiar refrain for the White Sox this season: Errors leading to unearned runs. This time Alexei Ramirez and Jesse Crain each committed fielding errors that contributed to three unearned runs in the eighth inning and allowed the Royals to avoid a sweep at Kauffman Stadium. Ramirez's gaffe, his 12th of the season, was the back breaker that allowed the tying and winning runs to score. The miscues wasted a solid offensive day from Adam Dunn and a gutsy pitching performance by Dylan Axelrod. Dunn hit his 20th homer of the season, a two-run shot off James Shields in the third inning, and drove in four runs, Gordon Beckham had a two-run double in the seventh inning that may have been the game's winning runs for the Sox before Ramirez let the ball go through his legs in the eighth.