Ward's 2-run double leads Chicago Cubs to 6-4 victory over Arizona Diamondbacks
By ANDREW SELIGMAN | Associated Press | May 11, 08 5:43 PM CDT in
Sports
The big matchup between Big Z and the Big Unit never materialized.
Pinch-hitter Daryle Ward delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs rallied again to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 Sunday after the anticipated showdown between Carlos Zambrano and Randy Johnson got wiped out.
Carlos Marmol (1-0) struck out two in a perfect eighth and Kerry Wood pitched the ninth to earn his seventh save in 10 chances and finish off Chicago's three-game sweep of the NL West leaders.
Heavy rain and temperatures in the mid-40s delayed the start of the game by 58 minutes, and Zambrano and Johnson were spectators when it finally began. By the time the game ended, the Cubs had used another late rally against the bullpen to beat Arizona, the team that swept them in the playoffs last year.
The Cubs scored six in the seventh to beat Arizona 7-2 on Saturday, and on Sunday?
Reed Johnson tied it at 4 with a two-run homer off Juan Cruz with one out in the seventh after Mike Fontenot walked. Cruz then walked Ryan Theriot before Tony Pena (0-1) got Derrek Lee to hit into a double play, but the Cubs struck again in the eighth.
Pena intentionally walked pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano to load the bases with one out and set the stage for Ward, drove the ball to right-center to make it 6-4.
Ward also came off the bench to deliver a big hit in Chicago's 7-2 victory over Arizona on Saturday. His pinch-hit RBI single in the Cubs' six-run seventh tied it at 2.
Arizona's Edgar Gonzalez was in line to get the win Sunday until Reed Johnson went deep.
Recently booted from the rotation, Gonzalez allowed two runs and five hits before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the sixth. One of those hits was a solo homer by Derrek Lee that gave Chicago a 2-1 lead in the third.
Cubs starter Sean Gallagher carried the lead into the fifth but couldn't make it out of the inning. Reliever Chad Fox wasn't much help, either, walking in two runs that inning.
Until then, the pitchers who started the game were performing like the pitchers they replaced.
Gallagher allowed four runs and five hits over 4 1-3 innings in his first major league start. The 22-year-old right-hander had made two appearances this season after posting an 8.59 ERA in eight relief outings while splitting time between the majors and minors last year.
If the Cubs caught a break by missing Randy Johnson, who's 12-0 against them, it was tough to tell.
Gonzalez's biggest mistake was the first pitch to Lee in the third, which he drove to the basket above the right-field wall for his 10th homer and second in three days.
Notes:@ A fan wearing a white sweat shirt jumped out of the bleachers and got tackled in center field by two security guards. ... The Diamondbacks held out 2B Orlando Hudson, who was expected to miss his sixth straight game with a strained right hamstring. ... Cubs fans showered Dallas Cowboys quarterback and former Eastern Illinois star Tony Romo with loud boos as he threw out the first pitch.
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