It’s not 20 but we’ll take it
Ten years to the day Kerry Wood struck out 20 batters in a game, Carlos Zambrano was just as dominant.
Striking out three.
Zambrano came up huge for the Cubs, providing a spark that has been lacking the last couple of weeks with the exception of Zambrano starts. Big Z scattered three hits over eight innings and shut out the Reds en route to a 3-0 Chicago win. Wood fittingly closed the game with back-to-back strike outs for his fifth save of the season.
Hitting wasn’t exactly the Cubs’ strongest aspect. Reds starter Aaron Harang (who is killing my fantasy team, by the way) was pretty solid, giving up just three runs and striking out six batters in seven innings. But no team has ever won a game being shut out, so the three runs produced by, what is supposed to be an explosive line up, was plenty.
Aramis Ramirez drove in one RBI and Ronny Cedeno, who finally cracked the starting nine, drove in the Cubs’ other two runs.
Wednesday’s game features Jon Lieber (2-1, 1.86), who takes Rich Hill’s spot in the rotation, against Edison Volquez (4-1, 1.27). Looks like it’ll be a real barn burner.
