Cubs beat D-Backs 6-4
The Chicago Cubs finally found a bit of road success, beating the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 to take the second game of a three-game series in Arizona. It was the first time they’d gotten back to back road wins since May.
The Cubs have managed to turn things around against the Arizona D-Backs. They came into the series 35-47 and have picked up two straight wins. Prior to that, they were 1-2 in their past three games and had gotten shelled during that span, being out-scored 27-8 by the Philadelphia Phillies in those three games.
They got a good start from Carlos Silva, who threw six innings and allowed two earned runs on just four hits and one walk and struck out three batters. The performance was enough to lift Silva’s record to 9-2 on the season. Sean Marshall pitched four outs in relief but got himself into a bit of trouble in the eighth, allowing Carlos Marmol to come in and close out the match.
The D-Backs starter Barry Enright lasted for five innings and two outs, allowing seven hits and one walk for three earned runs against him. The loss was his first on the year. Five other pitchers combined to get the remaining 10 outs and were generally solid except for Aaron Heilman, who gave up two runs in the eighth inning.
Scoring Summary
The scoring began when Scott Drew hit a sacrifice fly to the left and scored Mark Reynolds in the bottom of the second. The game stayed tied until the sixth inning, when the Cubs finally found their bats. Kosuke Fukudome hit a solo shot, and then Aramis Ramirez, who has been struggling thus far with a .178 season average, blasted a two-run homer to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead.
Arizona closed the gap in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot, but the Cubs came back and scored in the seventh inning before Ramirez pulled the same trick he had earlier in the eighth inning, knocking another two-run shot out of the park.
Arizona, desperate to avoid continuing their skid, came both in the eighth and had two singles driving in runs to draw them within just two runs. But that’s as close as they’d get, with Carmol pitching five strikeouts to get five outs, although he did let in one hit. Still, it was enough for the save.
Ramirez comes alive, D-Backs dying slowly
“It’s about time I start contributing to this team,” Ramirez said. “…I’ve never been that bad in my life. I don’t think I’m that kind of hitter. I think I’m a decent hitter. I’ve been good through the years. So hopefully I take this game and just take off.”
Obviously upset by his prior lack of offense, his manager, Lou Pinella, said he welcomed Ramirez finally finding a home for his bat with the four RBI performance.
“Well. We’ve been waiting for Ramirez to heat up,” Piniella said, “and today was a real nice day with the bat.”
The D-Backs have been skidding badly. They fired their coach, A.J Hinch, but that hasn’t done them any good as they are now 1-4 under interim manager Kirk Gibson, including four losses in a row.
Starter Enright said he would have liked to have done better for his manager, and expressed his disappointment at getting lit up in the sixth.
“I was kind of throwing strikes around the plate and they were pretty comfortable with me,” Enright said. “That was different then the first outing. That third time through the lineup they started hitting the first pitch, first pitch fastballs. Balls that were more up as I got more tired during the game.”
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