(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
On a wet and rainy day at Wrigley Field the Cubs looked to end their three game losing streak. Carlos Villanueva took the mound against Alexi Ogando who has looked strong early on for the Rangers, but his hot start would end here.
The Cubs would start the scoring in the bottom of the second as Nate Schierholtz laced a one out double into the right field corner which then brought up Wellington Castillo who singled sharply to right. Luis Valbuena came to bat with runners on the corners and one out. Valbuena drilled a single past a diving Mitch Moreland to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.
The Rangers were blanked in the top of the third by Villanueva, and the Cubs had the top of their order due up. To lead of the top of the third David Dejesus rocketed a shot into the right field corner that was aided by some soft outfield dirt which aloud Dejesus to lead of the inning with a triple. During Starlin Castro’s at bat Ogando was extremely wild and threw a wild pitch that allowed Dejesus to scamper easily to home plate to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. Castro would later walk, and that brought up Anthony Rizzo. On a 2-1 count to Rizzo, Ogando left a fastball up and Rizzo crushed it to right center field for a homerun that was measured at 475 ft the longest recorded big fly in the majors this year. That gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead. After Rizzo’s blast Soriano went yard for the fist time this year to left center field to give the Cubs a 5-0 lead , and that was all that Carlos Villanueva needed to pick up his first win as a Cub.
Ian Kinsler would hit a solo shot in the top of the fourth to make it 5-1 Cubs. Villanueva was very effective because he mixed his pitches well and had the Ranger hitters off balance. He only gave up two runs both earned , and both on homeruns the second came on shot to straight away center field by Nelson Cruz. Villanueva pitched seven innings , and struck out six batters. The Cubs would ad their sixth run in the bottom of the fifth on a Luis Valbuena double off of Derek Lowe were Wellington Castillo scored all the way from first.
The Cubs played their most complete game of the season as their bats did enough to allow the pitching staff led by Villanueva to work comfortably. The Cubs pitchers only surrendered four hits, while the Cubs had thirteen knocks.
The Cubs will take on the Milwaukee Brewers at tommorow at 7:10 to start a three game weekend series at Miller Park. The pitchers are scheduled to be Marco Estrada for the Brewers , and for the Cubs Jeff Samardzija.
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