Morning Box Score

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 27, 2010 1:00PM

Sox Sweep Halos
Like their North Side counterparts, the Sox dug themselves a deep hole early but, unlike the Cubs, the Sox' rally was enough to overcome their opponents as they downed the Angels 4-3 to sweep the weekend series. The Halos scored three times off of Tony Pena in the first to open up a nice lead, but that's all the offense they would get as the Sox pitchers shut them down for the remaining eight innings. On offense, the Sox did it by chipping away. A Mark Teahen sac fly in the second got the Sox on the board and Carlos Quentin added a run with an RBI single in the sixth. Juan Pierre knocked in the tying run in the seventh with a triple and then Pierre scored the winning run when Omar Vizquel singled him in. Despite the shaky start, Pena pitched well after and earned his fifth win on the year with Matt Thornton recording the save. The Sox now return home where they'll finish the season. Tonight they open another Battle of the Sox as Boston comes to town for four games (7:10 p.m., CSN).

Cubs Drop Home Closer
The Cubs dug themselves a deep hole on Sunday and almost managed to dig themselves out of it. But the key word here is "almost" and ultimately the Cubs fell short in their home season finale, downed but he playing-for-their-playoff-lives Cardinals 8-7. Starter Jeff Samardzija got roughed up, allowing all eight runs to the Cards over 4.1 IP and spotting the Red Birds their big lead. But the Cubs offense rallied, scoring twice in the fifth on a Brad Snyder two-run single and then scored three times in the sixth. After scoring twice more in the seventh, the Cubs had two on with two out, the tying run in scoring position, but Wellington Castillo struck out to end the rally and the Cubs' shot at winning. The team wraps up the 2010 season an abysmal 35-46 at Wrigley for the year, a big reason for their failure this season. If you can't win at home, where can you win? They hope the answer is at least San Diego when they open up a four-game series on the Left Coast tonight (9:05 p.m., WGN).