Wells pitches Cubs past Cardinals 5-0
July 23, 2010
CHICAGO (AP)—Alfonso Soriano(notes) hit a two-run homer and Randy Wells(notes) pitched sevenshutout innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 5-0 victory over the St. LouisCardinals on Friday.
Tyler Colvin(notes) and Geovany Soto(notes) added solo shots for the Cubs, who trailfirst-place St. Louis by 10 games in the NL Central.
Chicago Cubs' Geovany Soto… The Canadian Press – Jul 23, 5:11 pm EDT A baseball fan cools off as he… AP – Jul 23, 5:05 pm EDT
Chicago Cubs starter Randy Wel… AP – Jul 23, 3:52 pm EDT YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index = 2; YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_lazy_images = [http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100723/capt.eaadb4141eaa4018886de35a4060992c-eaadb4141eaa4018886de35a4060992c-0.jpg?x=180&y=200&xc=88&yc=1&wc=237&hc=263&q=70&sig=JCjw9koUWeW48.WLj0NNmA--,http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100723/capt.b9c3bee19a9345dfadcac511bd315661-b9c3bee19a9345dfadcac511bd315661-0.jpg?x=180&y=200&xc=31&yc=1&wc=350&hc=389&q=70&sig=U_pclwav5AzKab99qE44rA--]; YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(window,load,YAHOO.Sports.articleLazyLoadCarousel.init); 1 of 3 StL-ChC Gallery function prev_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index > 0) { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index – 1); } else { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index); }}function next_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index 0) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next); }*/}function goto_photo(p) { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { for(i = 0; i < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos.length; i++) { if (i == p) { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, ); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, none); } } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page) { YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page.innerHTML =(p + 1); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = p; } } update_buttons();}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init = function () { YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_prev, click, prev_photo); YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_next, click, next_photo); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = 0; YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page = YAHOO.util.Dom.get(carousel_page); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos = YAHOO.util.Dom.getElementsByClassName(item, div, leadphoto); if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { goto_photo(0); }}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init(); Series at a Glance St. Louis 0 Chi Cubs 5 Fri, Jul 23 – Final St. Louis at Chi Cubs Sat, Jul 24 – 1:05 pm ET St. Louis at Chi Cubs Sun, Jul 25 – 8:05 pm ET
The Cardinals failed to get a run for the second straight day afteroutscoring opponents 46-17 during an eight-game winning streak. Albert Pujols(notes)was hitless in eight at-bats in the two losses, both coming in uncomfortablyhot, humid conditions.
Wells (5-7) allowed five hits—one single in each of the second throughsixth innings—and struck out seven. It was the polar opposite of hisperformance against the Cardinals on May 28, when he gave up hits to the firstsix batters and left trailing 5-0.
Wells, who has a 1.30 ERA in his past five starts after compiling a 5.21mark in his first 15 outings, has allowed no runs in his past two games.
The biggest threat came in the sixth, when Jon Jay(notes) singled, went to secondon Pujols’ grounder and advanced on Wells’ errant pickoff attempt. Wells thenstruck out Matt Holliday(notes) and got Colby Rasmus(notes) to pop out.
Sean Marshall(notes) wrapped up Chicago’s first shutout since June 13 with twohitless innings.
Jeff Suppan(notes) (0-6) allowed five runs and 10 hits in six innings. He fell to0-4 since rejoining the Cardinals last month after Milwaukee released him. St.Louis is 39-22 in games started by Adam Wainwright(notes), Chris Carpenter(notes) and JaimeGarcia(notes) but 15-21 otherwise.
Not only did Suppan’s teammates fail to score, they also made defensivemistakes leading to three Chicago runs.
The Cubs already led 2-0 in the fifth when St. Louis second baseman SkipSchumaker(notes) botched a double play relay. Soriano then lined a homer into theleft-field bleachers. In the sixth, nobody caught Starlin Castro’s(notes) infield pop,which fell for an RBI single.
Colvin opened the game with his first career leadoff homer. He is the firstleft-handed-hitting Cubs rookie with 14 home runs since Rafael Palmeiro in 1987.
Soto hit his 14th on the first pitch of the fourth inning and has homered inthree straight games. He went deep only 11 times last season after hitting 23 asthe 2008 NL rookie of the year.
Notes: Cubs RHP Carlos Zambrano(notes), suspended by the team after a June 25altercation with teammates, could return by late next week after a few moreminor league conditioning appearances. At that time, manager Lou Piniella said,Zambrano is expected to apologize. … RHP P.J. Walters(notes) pitched two perfectinnings for the Cardinals after being called up from Triple-A Memphis. …Piniella, who will retire at season’s end, didn’t have a prototypical leadoffman during his four seasons in Chicago. “That’s something that has to beaddressed,” he said, with GM Jim Hendry standing close by. … Both Piniellaand childhood buddy Tony La Russa had brief apprenticeships before becoming bigleague managers and both said Ryne Sandberg’s lack of experience shouldn’t workagainst him as Hendry searches for Piniella’s replacement. “It just depends onwho believes in you,” La Russa said. Added Piniella: “Either you can manage oryou can’t.”