2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographCubs sneak by Astros on Lee's homer
Zambrano wins; Soriano's assist ends early threat
By Rick Gano, The Associated Press
Posted: 4/7/08 Section: Sports
|
Lee hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh, Carlos Zambrano struck out seven in seven innings and the Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros 3-2 Sunday.
Lee connected against Oscar Villarreal (0-2) for his third homer of the season. The Cubs first baseman finished 2-for-3 with a walk and his one out was a long fly to deep center. He didn't hit his first homer last season until the 21st game and finished the season with only 22.
The Astros had tied it when Miguel Tejada hit his first homer with Houston leading off the seventh.
Slumping Alfonso Soriano homered and made a great throw for the Cubs, and Zambrano (1-0) avoided the cramping that forced him out of the season opener. He allowed two runs and seven hits with no walks.
Kerry Wood pitched a perfect ninth for his third save in as many chances, striking out Tejada to end it.
Soriano was 1-for-24 this season when he lifted a 1-1 pitch from Brandon Backe over the left-field wall in the fifth to put the Cubs ahead 2-1.
He also bailed Zambrano out of a first-inning predicament by catching Carlos Lee's fly ball and throwing out speedy Michael Bourn at the plate for an inning-ending double play.
Zambrano was forced to leave his opening-day start in the seventh with a forearm cramp. Also bothered by cramping last season, he'd been advised by the team's training staff to cut back on his pregame caffeine intake and drink more water. He threw 105 pitches against Houston.
Bourn led off with a single and made it to third on a double by Hunter Pence. Zambrano fanned Darin Erstad before Lee lifted a fly to left and Soriano made a perfect throw. Soriano had 19 outfield assists last season.
Backe went six innings, giving up six hits and two runs with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Zambrano's bases-loaded double play grounder put the Cubs ahead 1-0 in the second. The Astros tied it with Darin Erstad's two-out single in the third inning.
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.
Be the first to comment on this story