Morning Box Score

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Aug 20, 2008 2:00PM

Cubs, Harden Shutdown Reds
Rich Harden did it all for the Cubs in their 5-0 victory over the Reds last night: he struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings and got his first career RBI when he sac-bunted in the first (and winning) run of the game. The Cubs bats tagged on four more runs in the eighth to secure the win for Harden, who moves to 8-2 on the year. Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez both knocked in runs in the eighth and Kosuke Fukudome (K-Fuk?) drove in two with a bases loaded single. For his part, Harden is modest about his success so far with the Cubs, giving a large part of the credit to his catcher: "[N.L. batters] haven't really seen me that much. I've got to give a lot of credit to Soto, also. He's got a really good idea of what he's doing out there. Every time we've worked together, we've really been on the same page." Ted Lilly takes the mound tonight for the Cubs, who are now six games up on the second-place Brewers.

Sox Spank Seattle
The South Siders beat the Mariners for a 5-0 victory of their own as rookie Clayton Richard threw six shutout innings for his first major league victory. Carlos Quentin, Alexei Ramirez, and Junior Griffey had an RBI each as the Sox got their first three runs without much flash but they were just as important, as A.J Pierzynski noted: "You're not always gonna hit home runs. It's nice to hit home runs, because it's a good feeling and people get to watch fireworks, but at the same time, you gotta find a way to build runs. And we did that a couple times today, moving guys over and getting guys in." Nick Swisher added a solo homer in the fourth and Jim Thome followed suit in the fifth to add the fireworks just for the heck of it. With the victory, the Sox maintain their slim one-game lead over the Twins in the A.L. Central. Gavin Floyd climbs the hill for the Sox, winners of four in a row, this afternoon to close out the series with the Mariners.