Canine Christmas
Cold weather arrives
Bio Fashion Show
Get latest headlines via RSS feeds
NewsVine
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
StumbleuponCHICAGO CUBS 14, CINCINNATI 9
Cubs delight 'home' crowd with victory over Reds
Sunday, September 07, 2008
CINCINNATI — The game was played at Great American Ball Park, but the outing seemed like just another night at Wrigley Field.
Full house. Blue-shirted fans making a ruckus. Cubs win.
Alfonso Soriano tattooed three home runs — about 1,200 feet worth of clouts — and the NL Central leaders blasted 18 hits in a 14-9 victory over the Reds here Saturday, Sept. 6. Cubs fans made up about three-fourths of the sellout crowd of 41,204, and they thundered their approval throughout the offensive display.
Chicago had a season-high five homers while halting a six-game losing streak. Soriano, who went 4-for-5, notched the third three-homer game of his career and the 36th in Cubs history.
Johnny Cueto (8-13) made his first start in two weeks and was nasty on his first trip through the Cubs' line-up, allowing one hit. But Soriano (27 homers) reached the seats with two outs in the third. Aramis Ramirez singled to open the fourth, went to third on a double by Geovany Soto and scored on a ground-out by Micah Hoffpauir to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.
Cueto was charged with five earned runs in 51/3 innings and surrendered two of Soriano's bombs. But the Reds trailed only 3-1 when the rookie was lifted in the sixth. Reliever Jared Burton inherited runners at first and third, and both scored on Soriano's third homer.
"It was too much Soriano tonight," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "He drove in five of their first six runs. Their bats were smoking.
"Cueto threw the ball well — except to Soriano."
Mark DeRosa walloped a three-run homer in the seventh off Burton, and Jason Marquis, the .200-hitting pitcher, had a solo shot in the eighth, helping the Cubs to an 11-1 lead.
An error by first baseman Derrek Lee spurred the Reds to a four-run eighth inning. A grand slam by Jolbert Cabrera cut the deficit to five in the ninth.
With the bases filled with two outs in the fourth, the Reds' Chris Dickerson worked the count to 3-0 and then took a knee-high pitch that was called a ball. A confused Dickerson stood in the batter's box for several seconds, not realizing he'd been issued an RBI walk. And when the rookie finally started for first base, Marquis began to fume.
Manager Lou Piniella popped out of the dugout as Cubs infielders rushed to the mound, but Piniella didn't allow his notoriously short fuse to ignite. He had words with home plate umpire Brian Runge, but the ump was laughing as the two parted ways.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or
dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
