Morning Box Score

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Aug 10, 2008 2:33PM

Cards Shellac Zambrano
Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano had his roughest outing of the season yesterday, giving up nine runs over four and 1/3 innings, as the Cardinals beat the Cubs 12-3. Zambrano's performance included giving up a pair of home runs to Troy Glaus (who had five RBIs) and earning his first loss at Wrigley Field since last September. Zambrano and Mark DeRosa both had solo home runs, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome the Cardinals offensive onslaught. Former Cub Todd Wellemeyer pitched six and 2/3 innings for the Cardinals to get the win. The teams close out the series tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN; Ryan Dempster takes the mound for the Cubs while Chris Carpenter makes only his third start of the season for the Cardinals. The Cubs are now four games up on the Brewers and six games up on the Cardinals. The Cubs also await the return of reliever Kerry Wood from the DL, which has been delayed by back spasms.

White Sox Lose Game, Contreras
It was a bad day for the White Sox: not only did they lose to the Boston Red Sox, 6-2, and fall out of first place (now a half-game behind Minnesota), but they lost pitcher Jose Contreras for the season. Contreras ruptured his Achilles' tendon in the second inning covering first base on a play. Jim Thome provided a brief spark for the White Sox with a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn't enough to overcome a sharp outing by Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka, who struck out four and scattered four hits over eight innings. D.J. Carrasco took over for the White Sox after the Contreras injury but ultimately it was reliever Boone Logan earning the loss. Still, the biggest loss of all is Contreras. Said A.J. Pierzynski, "The worst part is that it was very encouraging the way he was throwing. He was somebody we were going to count on down the stretch." Manager Ozzie Guillen added, "Those kinds of injuries, I don't know how you can come back. The only thing I hope is that he can pitch again."