Pirates 7, Cubs 5 more ›

Pirates 3, Cubs 1 more ›

Sox Can't Rally Past Royals more ›

Cubs Beat Pirates! Cubs Beat Pirates! more ›

There used to be a time - and what heady, glorious days those were - when the Pittsburgh Pirates were a welcome opponent for the Cubs, a chance for the team to recoup and catch a breather while beating up on a hapless franchise with an awful front office still clinging to the success of the early 90's. Those days are long gone. Last night, the Cubs' offense again sputtered to a halt in a 2-1 loss to the Pirates as the Cubs fell to 2-8 against the Bucs in 2010. Randy Wells pitched good enough to win, allowing just one run over six innings. Too bad the offense didn't hit well enough to help. A Starlin Castro RBI on a fielder's choice was the only run the Cubs could muster as they went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and the Pirates scored the winning run off of reliever Andrew Cashner who has now given up a run in three straight appearances. The Cubs try again tonight (7:05 p.m., WGN). more ›

Cubs Edge A's more ›

Sox Keep Winning more ›

Sox Best Bucs more ›

There is no questioning it now: Carlos Silva, the return gift in the "sure-whatever-we'll-take-him-just-have-Milton-Bradley" trade, is the Cubs' MVP of 2010 thus far. Silva now stands at 8-0 after leading the Cubs past the Pirates 6-1 yesterday afternoon in a make-up game from last week's rain-out. Silva struck out five and allowed just one run on four hits over seven innings of work. Jeff Baker had a pair of early RBI to get the Cubs up 2-0 early and Marlon Byrd also had a good day at the plate, going 3-for-4 and knocking in two runs himself. But the story of the day was Silva, the first Cubs pitcher since Ken Holtzman in 1967 to start out 8-0 (Holtzman ultimately started out 9-0). Lou was blunt, saying, "Look, he's been our best pitcher." And what did Silva have to say about the good start? "It feels great. I thank God for all of this, not only for me, but for my whole family. Last year was brutal and this is like, man you know, I've got like 20 messages already from my brothers and my mother. Not only for me, but my team and my family. It's really like a blessing, it's amazing." The Cubs will hopefully utilize the momentum tonight when they head into Milwaukee for the last set of games on the current road trip (7:10 p.m., CSN). more ›

Sox Fall To Rangers more ›

Rangers Out-Slug Sox more ›

Randy Wells rebounded from Friday's short, awful outing with a much better performance yesterday, but the Cubs could, once again, not muster any offense and got a less-than-stellar bullpen performance in falling to the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1. And with the loss, the Cubs are now 1-6 against the lowly Pirates on the year. Wells threw five shutout innings and a Geovanny Soto RBI ground out in the second gave the Cubs an early 1-0 lead, but the Cubs' bullpen gave up two runs in the final three innings while the offense went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Even Lou doesn't know what to do anymore: "One run again. I think that's three out of four games that we had one run. What are you going to do?" Technically, it's actually four out of five if you count last Thursday's 1-0 win over the Dodgers. The Cubs send Ted Lilly to the mound tonight in another attempt to reverse their fortunes against the Pirates (6:05 p.m., CSN+) more ›

Cubs Edge Bucs more ›

Peavy Grabs Another W For Sox more ›

Cubs Not Enough To Beat Bucs more ›

It was a quiet Thursday on the Chicago sports scene, with the Cubs and Sox both traveling, the Bulls done for the year, and the Blackhawks resting up for the start of their playoff series in San Jose. The Cubs kick off a weekend series at Wrigley against the Pirates this afternoon (1:20 p.m., WGN) while the White Sox are down the road in Kansas City for a series starting tonight (7:10 p.m., CSN). more ›

The Cubs and Sox have both started out struggling this season. Have we hit rock-bottom for both teams? more ›

In an all-too-familiar refrain, both Chicago MLB teams lost on the same night. more ›

The Pirates had a lead on the Cubs last night but it was all for naught. All that rain washed the game out and it won't be made up. The game was in the top of the fourth with the Pirates leading 3-0 when the game was delayed by rain for over two-and-a-half hours before being canceled. The Cubs have a weekend series against the Arizona Diamonbacks that starts tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. (WGN). more ›

Both the Cubs and Sox played doubleheaders yesterday. One team fared much better than the other. more ›

Ryan Dempster hurled the third shutout of his career, striking out six and allowing only five Pittsburgh hits to help propel the Cubs past the Pirates by a 6-0 final. On the downside, the Cubs were officially eliminated from playoff contention when the Rockies defeated the Brewers, not that the Cubs' chances were all that good during the last month. The Cubs jumped out to an early lead with three first inning runs and Derek Lee helped put the game well out of reach with a two run single in the fourth inning. The Cubs also got offensive help from Might Micah Hoffpauir and Jeff Baker, who had two RBIs each. The Cubs and Bucs play two today in a twi-night doubleheader to make up a mid-August rain-out. Game one starts at 1:05 p.m. this afternoon (WGN) and game two starts at 7:05 p.m. (CSN+). more ›

Saturday was "Talk Like A Pirate Day" and the Field Museum celebrated with festivities for the youngsters in an effort to show them the Pirate Way and to help promote their Real Pirates exhibit, closing soon (so get ye to the Field Museum). more ›

The White Sox brought a brutal 20-games-in-20-days stretch to a victorious close with an extra-innings, walk-off 4-3 win over Oakland. The Sox jumped out to an early lead, up on the A's 3-2 after three innings thanks to RBIs from Alexei Ramirez and Scott Podsednik. The lead held until the eight when Ozzie pulled Matt Thornton in favor of Tony Pena who promptly gave up a double and a single, allowing the A's to tie the game and force extra innings. Jermaine Dye had a chance to end the game in the 11th when he came to bat with two outs and the bases loaded but was unable to deliver. Finally, in the 13th, AJ Pierzynski's RBI double gave the Sox the walk-off win. Freddy Garcia had a solid start - five K's, two runs, six innings - and Octavio Dotel pitched three scoreless innings to get the win. Next up for the Sox is a well-deserved day off today followed by a six-game, seven-day west coast road trip to Anaheim and Seattle. more ›

The Cubs offense, impotent for so much of the 2009 season, took out its frustration on the lowly Pirates last night, smacking eight straight hits to start the game and give starter Ryan Dempster a 7-0 lead before he threw a single pitch; the Cubs won by a 9-4 final. Skipper Lou Piniella echoed the thoughts of most Cubs after the game when he asked, "Where's that first inning been all year?" Elias says the feat of opening a game with eight straight hits has been done five times before last night, once before by the Cubs (against, who else, the Pirates in 1973). Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, and Kosuke Fukudome each had two RBIs and Mighty Micah Hoffpauir had a homer in the fourth. Dempster surrendered all four Pirate runs over the course of his 6.1 innings in the winning effort while four pitchers from the bullpen - none of them Kevin Gregg - held the lead. The Cubs and Pirates finish their series with an 11:35 matinee today (CSN). more ›

Nothing like a new child to spur on a power surge: Derek Lee continued his hot streak by belting a pair of homers yesterday as the Cubs got a wet 4-2 win over the Pirates. D-Lee hit a solo shot in the first and added a two-run shot in the third. That was all the runs the Cubs needed as Ted Lilly had a sterling outing, allowing two runs on two hits over six innings with Carlos Marmol notching another save and Kevin Gregg going nowhere near the mound. Lee's homers put him over 30 for the season (now at 31 to be exact), making him the eighth Cubs player to have three seasons of at least 30 homers. The Cubs and Buccos battle again at 6:05 p.m. tonight (CSN). more ›

The White Sox were off yesterday as the traveled the Left Coast from Seattle to Oakland where they begin a weekend series tonight at 9:05 p.m. (WGN). You can check our recap of yesterday's Cubs-Phillies game here and, luckily for the Cubs, the Pirates come to town for a weekend set starting today at 1:20 p.m. (WGN). more ›

A day after getting walloped by the Phillies bats, the Cubs were shut down by the Phillie's recently acquired pitching ace Cliff Lee, as Philadelphia took a 6-1 win today from the Cubs. The win gave the Phillies a series sweep, a season series victory (5-1), and the Cubs have now lost 6 of their last 7. It was a pitcher's duel until the fourth inning when the Phillies finally got to Cubs starter Ryan Dempster. Slugger Ryan Howard smacked his 27th homer of the year, a 3-run shot, and Pedro Feliz followed him with a solo homer of his own to put the Phillies up 4-0. The Cubs tried to claw back into the game when Ryan Theriot singled in Jeff Baker in the bottom of the fifth, but it's all the damage the Cubs offense would inflict on Philadelphia. With two more runs scored off of Dempster in the later innings, the Phillies put the game out of reach. Dempster struck out eight over seven innings but also gave up six earned runs on eight hits in the loss. For the series, the Cubs were outscored by Philadelphia by a total of 22-9. With the loss, the Cubs find themselves 4.5 games back of idle St. Louis. Thankfully for the Cubs, the Pirates - who have struggled mightily on the road - come to town next for a three-game stand starting tomorrow afternoon. more ›

Cubs Boot Bucs more ›

The White Sox hit Cleveland ace Cliff Lee early and often on their way to a rain-shortened 11-4 drubbing of the Indians. The Sox got off to a quick start, knocking in four runs in the first including a two-run homer from Paul Konerko. Rookie Gordon Beckham went yard in the third and Josh Fields added a solo shot in the fifth as the Sox scored in each of the first six innings except the second and chased Lee after knocking him around for seven runs in just over three innings pitched. As for the Sox, Clayton Richard gave up four runs, struck out six, and got the win. The rain - which forced the game to be called in the top of the seventh - also helped preserve the Sox bullpen as Richard threw all six innings for the Sox. The final game of the series gets underway in Cleveland tonight at 6:05 p.m. (WCIU). more ›

Cubs Ease Past Pirates more ›