Morning Box Score: Let's Play Two! Edition
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Oct 1, 2009 3:00PM
Both the Cubs and Sox played doubleheaders yesterday. One team fared much better than the other.
Sox Split With Tribe
The Sox didn't look too sharp in game one yesterday, falling to the Indians 5-1. Rookie Carlos Torres gave up five runs over six innings as several pitchers for the Sox were unavailable due to injury. A Dewayne Wise RBI triple was the only offense the Sox could muster and it just wasn't enough to overcome Cleveland.
The Sox fared much better in game two as they won a pitcher's duel 1-0. Mark Buehrle pitched six sterling, shutout innings and the bullpen combo of Tony Pena and Matt Thornton kept the shutout intact to help the Sox earn the doubleheader split. Ozzie was impressed by his ace's performance: "Buehrle was out there just for a couple innings, just to make sure we're not overusing anyone else, and he did a good job. You see the way he threw today, it was better than the last outing. The last outing was 78-to-80 mph, and today he brought it up to 88-to-90." Offensively, Dewayne Wise was once again at the center of the Sox scoring, getting on base with a double in the sixth and scoring on a Paul Konerko single. Like their North Side counterparts, the Sox only scored two runs yesterday. But unlike the Cubs, the Sox were at least able to manage a split.
The Sox have today off as they travel to Detroit for their season-ending series.
Bucs Sweep Cubs
And this is why the Cubs aren't in the playoffs in 2009. The Pirates swept their doubleheader with the Cubs. In game one, the Cubs couldn't muster any offense to overcome one bad inning from starter Ted Lilly as the Pirates won 4-0. Lilly gave up all four runs in the first, but then settled down pitching six scoreless innings. But the Cubs offense could only manage four hits against the Pirates' pitching. Said Lilly of his effort, That first inning was huge. You can say that throughout the course of the season, how many times you let one inning get away from you and it ends up costing you the game. This was certainly one of those times."
Things didn't get much better in game two as Carol Zambrano, making his final start of a tumultuous 2009 season, gave up four runs over six innings - and the bullpen gave up four more over the final three - as the Pirates topped the Cubs 8-2. Mike Fontenot and Ryan Theriot were responsible for the Cubs runs, the only two they scored in eighteen innings of play yesterday. Lou echoed the disappointment after the game, saying, "Two runs in two games, unless you pitch two shutouts, you're not going to win too many baseball games." Indeed.
The Cubs and Pirates give it one more go tonight at 7:05 p.m. (CSN).