Morning Box Score

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 30, 2010 1:00PM

Sox Claim Victory From Boston
Freddy Garcia pitched seven solid innings, allowing just two runs, as the Sox claimed a 5-2 victory from the visiting Red Sox; the win put Garcia's 2010 record at 12-6. Down 1-0, A.J. Pierzynski tied the game at 1-1 with solo homer in the bottom of the fourth. The Sox then used a series of singles and an intentional walk to move runners around the bases in bringing in three runs in the seventh inning to pull ahead for good. An RBI on a Juan Pierre double play put an exclamation point on the night. Ozzie had nothing but good things to say about Garcia after the game: "A lot of people talk about [John] Danks and [Gavin] Floyd, all those guys. The best pitcher we had every five days was Freddy." Speaking of Danks, he gets his final start of the year tonight as the Battle of the Sox draws to a close (7:10 p.m., WCIU).

Cubs Blanked By Padres
Randy Wells had a decent outing but the Cubs' offense was handcuffed by San Diego's pitching staff as the Padres blanked the Cubs 3-0. Wells gave up three runs to the Padres over seven innings but the Cubs bats only mustered four hits total in the loss. The Padres also used defense to beat the Cubs as outfielder Will Venable made two spectacular catches to rob both Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano of what seemed sure to be homers. Said Cubs interim manager Mike Quade, "The first catch was good. The second catch was phenomenal." The Cubs try to earn a split later this afternoon when they finish up the series in San Diego (5:35 p.m., CSN).

Fire Romp Past San Jose
The Fire's franchise-record scoreless streak reached 401 minutes last night before rookie Steven Kinney scored his first ever MLS goal in the 39th minute. The scoreless streak snapped, the Fire were able to shake that monkey of its back for a 3-0 win over San Jose. The Fire had two other "firsts" last night as Freddie Ljungberg scored his first goal for the Fire in the 72nd minute and Patrick Nyarko scored his first goal of the season in injury time (92nd minute). The win is certainly a boost to the Fire but the team remains 10 points out of playoff contention with five games to play. Next up is a trip to Dallas on Saturday (7:30 p.m., Fox Soccer Channel).