Morning Box Score

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 28, 2010 1:30PM

Cubs Blank Padres
It was a pitcher's duel at Petco Field Monday night, one that the Cubs came up on the winning side of with a 1-0 victory. Carlos Zambrano continued his dominant second half performance this season, allowing three hits over seven innings while striking out five. Not that the game was without drama. In the ninth, Carols "Drama" Marmol recorded two quick outs before, yes, loading the bases. Fortunately, with his back against the wall, Marmol got the Padres' Nick Hundley to fly out to left field, ending the attempted rally and the game. We're beginning to think Marmol does this all on purpose. A Blake DeWitt RBI single in the seventh was the only scoring hit of the game, driving home Alfonso Soriano, but it was enough with Zambrano's dominant performance; Big Z is 7-0 over his last 10 starts, striking out 55 but only giving up 9 runs and this was the third time in four outings he gave up zero earned runs. Where the hell was this Zambrano in April? The Cubs hope they can keep playing spoiler for the in-the-playoff-hunt Padres when the two teams meet again tonight (9:05 p.m., WGN).

BoSox Dog ChiSox
The Pale Hose faltered against their red-hued counterpart as Boston took the first game in their four-game Battle of the Sox by a 6-1 final. The Sox were hurt by an anemic offense that managed six singles but 0 extra-base hits; they had an opportunity with runners and second and third in the third, but couldn't bring any runners home against BoSox starter Clay Buchholz, scoring only on a sac fly in the fifth. Meanwhile, the BoSox scattered 11 hits for four runs off of Mark Buehrle and added two more against the Sox bullpen as the game progressed. The Battle of the Sox continues with Game Two of the series tonight (7:10 p.m., CSN).