Jason Marquis tosses 6 innings, Derrek Lee homers as Cubs win 8th straight over Pirates, 13-1
By RICK GANO | Associated Press | Apr 19, 08 3:34 PM CDT in
Sports
Jason Marquis pitched six solid innings for his first victory of the season, Derrek Lee and Daryle Ward homered and the Chicago Cubs beat Pittsburgh 13-1 Saturday for their eighth straight win over the Pirates.
The Cubs are 5-0 against Pittsburgh this season.
Marquis (1-0) won for the first time since last Sept. 16, allowing a run and six hits while striking out seven. He helped himself with an RBI double.
Chicago took a 7-0 lead after three innings, roughing up Tom Gorzelanny (1-2) for the second time this season. The Cubs took advantage of the Pirates' wildness, drawing 10 walks.
Nate McLouth provided Pittsburgh's highlight, extending his hitting streak to 17 games with a fifth-inning double. He has gotten a hit in every Pirates game this season, and scored their run on a double by Freddy Sanchez.
Lee hit his seventh home run, a mark he didn't reach last season until July 15. He connected in the first inning after a single by Ryan Theriot.
Geovany Soto hit an RBI double in the second and the Cubs finished Gorzelanny with a four-run third _ this was the second time in two weeks the Pirates lefty failed to make it past the third against the Cubs.
Aramis Ramirez worked a one-out walk, went to third on a single by Kosuke Fukudome and scored on a single by Mark DeRosa.
As Fukudome and DeRosa took off on a double steal attempt, catcher Ryan Doumit threw the ball into left field for an error that let a run score. DeRosa took third on the play and trotted home on Gorzelanny's wild pitch.
Ronny Cedeno got the fourth walk off Gorzelanny on a 12-pitch at-bat. He scored when Marquis doubled into the right-field corner and that finished Gorzelanny, a 14-game winner last season.
Reliever Tyler Yates was just as off with his control. After giving up a one-out single to Theriot in the sixth, he walked three straight batters, forcing in a run. DeRosa's sacrifice fly made it 9-1 and Yates' fourth walk of the inning reloaded the bases.
Cedeno greeted reliever John Grabow with a two-run single, making it 11-1.
Ward, who entered the game in the sixth to replace Lee, hit his first homer of the season, a two-run shot off Evan Meek in the seventh.
Notes:@ Gorzelanny, from the Chicago suburb of Evergreen Park, was scheduled leave about 15 tickets to the game for family and friends. In his previous outing against the Cubs in Pittsburgh on April 7, he also gave up four walks, six hits and seven runs but lasted only 2 1-3 innings. ... The Cubs called up OF Matt Murton from Triple-A Iowa and sent INF-OF Eric Patterson back to the same team.
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