San Francisco Giants hold on to slim division lead with 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs
Rookie Buster Posey came up big for the Giants with a home run off reliever Andrew Cashner to give the San Francisco Giants a 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs Tuesday night.
Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain went six innings and only gave up two hits and one walk while keeping the Cubs off the scoreboard. The problem was that Cubs starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano also only gave
up three hits and five walks while shutting out the Giants, turning in six innings.
The two hits off Cain ended up being all that the Cubs could manage off Giants pitching. Three relievers combined to pitch the last three innings with each retiring the side. Brian Wilson worked the ninth
inning for save no. 44 on the season. Ramon Ramirez got credit for the win after pitching the seventh inning.
Posey scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning when he hit a home run over centrefield to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. Posey has made a pretty good case for NL Rookie of the Year honors. So far he has
hit 15 home runs, has 62 RBIs, and has batted .324 since getting called up on 29 May.
With only a half game lead on the San Diego Padres every game is important for the Giants, who are trying to win their first division title since they last won it in 2003.
"I've never been to the playoffs. I've never celebrated. That's what I want. We're better than just getting to the playoffs. (If) we get there, I think we're going to be tough to beat,” said Giants pitcher
Jonathan Sanchez.
With the win the Giants improve to 85-66 on the season and maintained their half game lead over the San Diego Padres for the division title with eleven games left in the regular season. The two teams do meet
in San Francisco for a three game series to close out the season.
Scheduled to take the mound for the Giants on Wednesday in the second game of the three game series with the Cubs is Jonathan Sanchez. Randy Wells is set to do so for Chicago. The last time Wells pitched
against the Giants he only lasted five innings and gave up three home runs; he did not factor in to the decision, but the Giants did win 8-7.
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