Morning Box Score: One Bad Inning for Cubs, Konerko's 2,000th Hit Wasted in Anaheim
By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 24, 2011 1:00PM
Casey Coleman was rolling until a slow rolling single by Dan Uggla sparked a five-run fourth inning for Atlanta. With two outs in the fifth, Aramis Ramirez tried for a barehanded grab of Uggla's single but couldn't handle the ball. Coleman promptly surrendered another single to Chipper Jones and two walks before Jason Heyward capped the fateful inning with a grand slam.
Ramirez had another monster meaningless night at the plate with the first five-hit game of his career and Alfonso Soriano homered in the Cubs' four-run fifth inning to get back in the game. But the scoring for both teams ended there as Braves reliever Craig Kimbrel earned his 40th save of the season.
On paper a pitching matchup between Mark Buehrle and Ervin Santana is prime time viewing. Both Buehrle and Santana struggled through their starts. The Angels tagged Buehrle early while the Sox batters started to get to Santana late, including Paul Konerko's eighth inning single. It was Konerko's 2,000th hit.
The game came down to the ninth inning, when Peter Bourjos's single scored Erick Aybar with the winning run off reliever Jason Frasor. The Sox now stand 6-1/2 games behind Detroit, who are slowly bringing the AL Central race to an academic conclusion.