Morning Box Score

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Aug 26, 2010 1:00PM

Sox Still Can't Figure Out Orioles
What is it about the Baltimore Orioles that stymies the Sox? With the Twins stuck in a three-game losing streak, it's the perfect chance for the Sox to close some ground, but they ran into the buzzsaw that is the Baltimore Orioles once again, losing 4-2 last night at The Cell. The loss drops the Sox to 2-4 this month against the worst team in the American League. Down 3-0, Gordon Beckham provided a spark with a solo homer in the sixth and Carlos Quentin ripped an RBI triple in the bottom of the ninth, but the Sox couldn't follow through on the rally. Mark Buehrle gave up all four runs, falling to 12-10 on the year as he went seven innings while the Sox deal with a depleted bullpen; J.J. Putz and Matt Thornton were both placed on the DL yesterday. The Sox get one more crack at the Orioles before the Yankees come to town so they hope to make the most of it with Edwin Jackson taking the hill (7:10 p.m., CSN).

Cubs Complete Sweep
The Cubs came out on the winning side of a pitcher's duel, riding a strong performance by Ryan Dempster and getting some timely hitting (from the Cubs? Yeah, we didn't believe it, either) to push themselves to a 4-0 win over the Nationals, completing the sweep in the series of "Who Sucks Less?". Dempster threw seven shutout innings, giving up just two hits and striking out eight for the win. Meanwhile, it was Starlin Castro who got the offense going for the Cubs in the eighth, stroking an RBI double that was followed by a two-run Aramis Ramirez homer to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. A solo homer from Alfonso Soriano extended the lead to 4-0 and the bullpen combo of Andrew Cashner and Carlos Marmol pitched a drama-free final two innings. The Cubs are now 3-0 under new manager Mike Quade. But at 54-74, they're 19.5 games out of the division and 17 games out of the wild card so, yeah, you know, too little, too late. And things don't get any easier as they now head to Cincinnati to take on the division-leading Reds (6:10 p.m., WGN).