Cubs 11 – Cardinals 4

Complete Recap

After today’s affair, Jake Westbrook is now 2-3 with a 6.92 ERA. Since he joined the Cardinals midway last year he has been a shell of his former self with the Indians.

The game started off rather well, the Cardinals scored in the top of the third and to a rain delay we went. For nearly an hour the two clubs hid in the clubhouse to escape the downpour that seemingly came out of nowhere. When they came back to take the field, Westbrook looked completely different than he did in the earlier two innings.

Nick Punto kicked off the top of the 3rd in a big way, he hits a ground rule double to right field. Descalso is next and walks, Westbrook hits a sac bunt to advance the two batters, and former Cub Ryan Theriot comes to the plate to single home Punto to give the Cardinals an early lead 1-0.

The bottom of the 3rd was the beginning of the Cubs fireworks. Kosuke Fukudome singles, Darwin Barney singles, Marlon Byrd gets hit to load the bases, and Aramis Ramirez singles to score Kosuke, 1-1. Carlos Pena doubles and the Cardinals decide it’s time for a change and Jason Motte comes in, 3-1 Cubs. Breakout Starlin Castro steps up next and singles home two more runs, 5-1 Cubs and Alfonso Soriano hits a single himself to get one last tally to end the inning 6-1 Chicago.

Motte ends the inning and they decide in the fourth to bring in Ryan Franklin to try to get him back on the right path. Once again, he does not disappoint either, going 3 innings giving up 7 hits and 4 runs.

Bottom of the 5th. Carlos Pena singles, Starlin Castro triples and the run scores. Alfonso Soriano thus singles to drive him home and the next batter Koyie Hill hits a triple and the score is now run to 10-1 Cubs to end the 5th inning.

The top of the 7th the Cardinals fight back but are already too far gone. Gerald Laird doubles, Punto walks, Ryan Theriot singles, and Colby Rasmus singles with the bases loaded to score Laird. Albert Pujols singles to score two more runs and the top half ends, 10-4. The bottom half starts and Mitchell Boggs is given the ball to take the hill. Starlin Castro singles and Koyie Hill steps up again to double and score the run. The Cubs win 11-4.

Winning Pitcher: Matt Garza (2-4 : 4.17 ERA)

Losing Pitcher: Jake Westbrook (2-3 : 6.92 ERA)