Soriano homers, Cubs rally past Diamondbacks 7-5
Who needs hits with men in scoring position?
After going 1-for-10 with 11 runners in scoring position through 7 innings on Saturday afternoon, the Cubs got a 2-run, bases-loaded single from a previously slumping Derrek Lee to seize the lead before completing a 7-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in front of 40,368 at Wrigley Field.
"It feels good to help the team out," said Lee, who entered the game having nudged his batting average just over .200.
Lee's hit wound up being the one that mattered most. Next in line would be Alfonso Soriano's long 2-run homer to center in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Bob Howry.
Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren confounded the Cubs for 6 innings.
"We faced a good pitcher," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella of last year's Cy Young candidate. "He pitched himself in and out of some situations. He's got great stuff."
Reflecting on the game, Piniella said: "Soriano ... that was a big home run."
"I feel very good at home plate," said Soriano, who has homered in the last two games and credits much of his resurgence of late to working hard with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo."
Soriano says Jaramillo is helping him "stay back and see the ball better."
Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds hit 2 solo home runs, one onto Waveland Avenue and the other into the left-center basket. Justin Upton chipped in with an opposite-field 2-run basket shot. Those came against Cubs starter Carlos Silva, who had his roughest outing of the season after enterting the game with a 2-0 record and a 1.73 ERA.
Silva is battling a sore wrist, which he hurt during an at-bat last week in New York. The Cubs have pushed his next start back an extra day, to next weekend in Cincinnati.
He isn't the only Cub having problems. In addition to struggling early with men in scoring position, the Cubs were doing weird stuff, including scoring just once in the fourth inning after collecting 4 hits and getting an error out of the Diamondbacks to boot.
Aramis Ramirez hit what appeared was going to be a home run to start the inning. But it hit off the wall in left, and he wound up getting thrown at second on a long single.
The Cubs left men in scoring position in the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, settling for minimal run production before Soriano blasted the tying homer.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks weren't waiting for men to get into scoring position. They were scoring as effficiently as the Cubs were not.
When a tiring Haren (112 pitches) was removed after 6 innings, the Cubs had gone 1-for-10 with 9 runners in scoring position, although they delivered 1 run on a groundout by Ramirez in the fifth and another before that on a booted grounder by shortstop Stephen Drew off Geovany Soto's bat in the fourth.
"We hung in there. No one's up there trying to make outs," Piniella muttered in the postgame media room after his team banged out 14 hits but left 10 on base.
Jeff Gray pitched 1 inning of hitless relief, and Sean Marshall followed with 2 more.
"Marshall gave us two good innings," said Piniella.
Closer Carlos Marmol almost gave it back. He walked the bases loaded in the ninth, which included pitching very carefully around the dangerous Reynolds with two out. But he came back to strike out Adam LaRoche to finish the game.
"Marmol made it exciting," said Piniella. "Marmol's got exceptional stuff. He's going to battle you to the last pitch."
After baserunning problems, subpar clutch hitting, Silva struggling early and Marmol struggling late, Piniella seemed relieved to have come out on top.
"We hung in there," he repeated. "It was a good win for us."
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Game tracker</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">The good: The Cubs finally got a clutch hit with men in scoring position as Derrek Lee's bases-loaded single in the eighth put the Cubs ahead for good. The bullpen continued to pitch well, allowing no runs over the final 4 innings (Jeff Gray, Sean Marshall, Carlos Marmol). Alfonso Soriano continues to come around with the bat, and shortstop Ryan Theriot extended his hitting streak to 11 games.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">The bad: Until Lee's hit, the Cubs were 1-for-10 with men in scoring position. Carlos Silva says his wrist is not ailing but he sure pitched like it, surrendering all 5 Diamondbacks runs and 3 homers. Carlos Marmol earned the save but walked the bases full before recording the final out..</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">The ugly: Aramis Ramirez was thrown out at second after hitting a ball off the wall in the bottom of the fourth. An error and three hits later, it wound up costing the Cubs a much-needed run.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">- Howard Schlossberg</p>