Morning Box Score
By Matt Motyka in News on Jul 13, 2009 3:00PM
Cubs & Cards Split Doubleheader
Game one of Sunday’s doubleheader went to the Cubs by the score of 7-3. Micah Hoffpauir spotted Carlos Zambrano three runs in the first inning when hit a big fly off St. Louis’ Kyle Lohse. Zambrano, who allowed three runs on five hits over six innings, also contributed offensively with a solo shot to right-center in the fourth to give Chicago a 4-3 lead. That lead would swell to 7-3 in the seventh as the Cubs sent nine batters to the plate in an errant inning for St. Louis. Sean Marshall, Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg each picked up an inning of relief, collectively allowing one hit in the final three frames.
St. Louis claimed the night game on Sunday with a 4-2 victory over the Cubs. The Card’s Ryan Ludwick hit a pair of two-run homers off Randy Wells to provide all of St. Louis’ offense, while Adam Wainwright limited the Cubs to lone runs in the first and sixth innings. Milton Bradley, who batted in Chicago’s second run of the game and reached base safely in six of eight plate appearances on the day, officially declared himself back, saying, “you can mark it down. I'll be hitting for the rest of the year. I'm back.” [Ed's Note: Great, that only cost $5 million to get you going, Milton. - M.G.] Finishing the first half with a .500 record and second to last in the N.L. in runs scored, the Cubs will certainly welcome the additional offense coming out of the All-Star break.
Twins Sink Sox
The White Sox dropped their three-game series against the Twins with a 13-7 loss Sunday evening. All-Star Mark Buehrle had a less-than-stellar outing, surrendering eight runs—six by way of the long ball—in just 3.1 innings on the hill. The Sox’s bats battled back, scoring six runs over the final four frames, but a sloppy seventh by Chicago gave the Twins five additional tally marks. Alexei Ramirez reached base safely on three occasions and Jim Thome hammered home three runs in the sixth with his 14th jack of the season. At the halfway mark the Sox have a record of 45-43, situating them 3.5 behind first-place Detroit and half a game ahead of Minnesota in a three-team race for the Central division.