The Morning After: Cubs, Sox Both Winners
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Apr 13, 2010 3:00PM
Cubs Open Home Season With A 'W'
The Cubs shook off their early season doldrums as the bats came alive and they came away with a 9-5 win in their 2010 home opener over the Brewers. The Cubs cracked open the offense in the third inning when Xavier Nady hit a three-run homer and Jeff Baker followed a short time later with a two-run dinger of his own. In the fourth inning, Derrek Lee got an RBI single and Aramis Ramirez followed with a two-run homer. The Cubs would score once more in the fifth courtesy of a Marlon Byrd double. As for the pitching, Ryan Dempster wasn't spectacular but given his run support, he was effective enough: 6.1 innings, five runs, five strikeouts. More importantly, the bullpen held the lead. Today's an off day at Wrigley but the two teams will tangle again tomorrow afternoon as Randy Wells will take the hill for the Cubs (1:20 p.m., CSN).
Sox Need Extras Again, Squeak By Jays
We're beginning to lose track of the number of games the White Sox take to extra innings but if they keep winning, as they did last night, beating the Blue Jays 8-7 in 11 innings, it doesn't matter. Well, except for those tired bullpen arms. The Sox got the offense rolling early with a two-run shot from Andruw Jones in the second inning. Jones would again get in on the act as he and Carlos Quentin both had RBIs in the top of the third. But the Blue Jays' bats knocked around ace Jake Peavy, who was credited with giving up all seven runs over 5.2 innings pitched. Jones kept the Sox in it with his second homer of the game in the sixth and Mark Teahen also knocked in a run. Down 7-6 in the ninth, it was Teahen who ultimately played the hero, going deep for a solo shot to tie the game and force extra innings. In the 11th, Teahen would once again play hero, banging a triple which brought home Omar Vizquel. In the bottom of the 11th, Bobby Jenks made things interesting by allowing a pair of two-out walks, but managed to get out of the jam and secure the win, credited to reliever Matt Thornton. The Sox hope Jones and Teahen can keep producing those runs when game two of the series gets underway tonight (6:07 p.m., CSN).