The Morning After: Nearly Perfect Peavy, Cubs and Fire Fall
By Marcus Gilmer in News on May 9, 2010 3:30PM
Peavy Stellar For Sox
For the first 5.1 innings, it seemed like Sox starter Jake Peavy was destined to join Mark Buehrle among the ranks of pitchers who had hurled perfect games. Peavy downed the first 16 Blue Jays he faced, remaining perfect into the sixth inning. It ended when he gave up a solo homer, but perfect or not, Peavy was still fantastic for the Pale Hose, striking out eight over eight innings and allowing only two runs on his way to his second win of the year, leading the Sox past the Jays 7-3. Paul Konerko's league-leading 13th homer in the bottom of the first got the Sox rolling. The Sox would also prove patient at the plate, scoring three runs on bases loaded walks. After the game, Peavy claimed to not be concerned about history, saying, "Until the bottom of the seventh, that game was a two-run ballgame. You don't have a whole lot of must-wins in May but we had to win and come out and try to have a winning homestand tomorrow." And that's what they'll try to do this afternoon when they go for the split with the Jays (1:05 p.m., CSN).
The Cubs' bullpen gets shelled and the Fire fall in Canada, after the jump.
Cubs Creamed By Reds
It was actually just a one-run ballgame when the seventh-inning stretch was sung, but the Cincinnati Reds exploded over the last two frames to sprint off with a 14-2 victory the night after the Cubs saw an offensive explosion. Starter Tom Gorzelanny wasn't bad for the Cubs, striking out nine while giving up three runs on nine hits over seven innings of work. A Marlon Byrd single in the sixth and a bases loaded walk to Xavier Nady in the seventh gave the Cubs two runs (the team wound up 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position). But the Reds teed off on the Cubs bullpen, shelling Esmailin Caridad, Sean Marshall, The $18 Million Set-Up Man, and Justin Berg for 11 runs over the final two innings. At 1-4 on the current road trip, the Cubs try to salvage something from the trip other than Starlin Castro's debut this afternoon (12:10 p.m., WGN).
Toronto FC Douses Fire
The Fire couldn't get much going while former Fire player Chad Barrett had no problems scoring against his old team, netting two goals in Toronto's 4-1 win over the Fire on Saturday afternoon. Down 2-1 early in the second half, Logan Pause scored for the Fire in the 50th minute to cut the lead to 2-1, but that's when Barrett took over, scoring two goals within three minutes to clinch victory for Toronto FC. Chicago now stands at 2-3-2 with 8 total points, good enough for fourth in the Eastern Conference. Next up is a trip to Kansas City next Saturday (7:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Chan.) before the return home for a six-game homestand.