So that’s what it’s like to score some runs. Saturday night, Cubs fans were treated to an offensive explosion.
With an offensive offense all season, Chicago finally broke out the bats and lit up Houston’s ace Roy Oswalt (3-8) for 6 runs on 9 hits. Aramis Ramirez belted his 5th homer of the season and went 3-4 with 2 RBIs. It was a huge game for the struggling Cubs’ 3rd baseman.
In the 4th, Alfonso Soriano hit a sac fly to make it 3-2 Cubs. The Cubs didn’t score again until the 7th when Tyler Colvin went deep for his 6th bomb in limited duty. Colvin finally got a start in right for Kosuke Fukudome. Colvin is making it tough on skipper Lou Piniella to leave him out of the starting lineup.
Koyie Hill got the start behind the dish for Geovany Soto and went 2-3 with a pair of RBIs. Look for Hill to get some more playing time in the next few days.
The offensive explosion was even more welcomed by Chicago’s starting pitcher: Ryan Dempster (4-5). Dempster has been solid all season but hasn’t received very much run support.
Dempster went toe to toe with Houston’s ace and simply out pitched him. Dempster did allow 2 big flies to Houston but was able to overcome the homeruns to pick up the win.
The Astros attempted a comeback in the 9th and scored 2 unearned runs off of Jeff Stevens thanks to an error by 2nd baseman Ryan Theriot. Carlos Marmol slammed the door however and recorded save number 12 on the season.
Theriot by the way, has been struggling at the plate for the last month especially with taking pitches. Until the 9th inning on Saturday, the last time Theriot walked was May 1st. Theriot went 0-4 on the night.
Randy Wells (3-3) will take the ball on Sunday vs. Brett Myers (3-3) and the Astros in an attempt to win the rubber match.