Morning Box Score

By Matt Motyka in News on Jul 25, 2009 3:30PM

Cubs Top Reds
The Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds by the score of 8-5 on Friday afternoon. Chicago tallied a run in each of the first three innings to offset a three-run home run by Reds’ starter Aaron Harang in the second. The Cubs then reclaimed the lead when Aramis Ramirez homered to start the bottom half of the sixth and made sure it stuck with a four-run eighth that included dingers from Jeff Baker and Derrek Lee. Randy Wells earned the win with six effective innings on the mound, only faltering on Harang’s home run, and the Cubs weathered a rocky ninth by Kevin Gregg in which two came across for Cincinnati. Game two takes place today at 12:05 on the North Side.

Sox Drop Two
There was nothing perfect about the White Sox on Friday, as they dropped both games of their doubleheader to the Detroit Tigers. The Sox were held to just one run in the day game, but threatened to erase their four-run deficit in the ninth with bases loaded and nobody out. The Tigers’ Justin Verlander worked some magic, however, and conjured a 1-2-3 double play and subsequent ground out to short to escape the jam and preserve his complete-game, 5-1 win. Game two was a more closely contested affair, as the Sox led 3-1 through the first four innings thanks to home runs by Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye. The Tigers rallied against Bartolo Colon in the fifth to even the score, and took a permanent 4-3 lead in the eighth when Matt Thorton walked home the decisive run. The Sox will look to undo some of the damage when the two teams play again today at 3:05.