Samardzija Gets Plenty Of Support In His First Win

Chicago, IL- It took Jeff Samardzija eleven starts, but he finally sealed a victory in the Cubs 8-4 win over the Giants.

Recap: The Giants scored first off of the Cubs in the first inning as Pablo Sandoval hit an RBI single with two outs. Two innings later, Nate Schieholtz tied up the game with a solo shot. Once again, Sandoval gave the Giants the lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth. However, the Cubs struck back in the top of the fifth, as they took a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly by Darwin Barney,  an RBI double by Jeff Samardzija, and an RBI triple by Emilio Bonifacio. The Cubs pondered again in the sixth with RBI singles by Wellington Castillo and Darwin Barney. The last two runs scored by the Cubs came in the seventh when Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI double, and Luis Valbuena hit an RBI single. The Giants scored their last run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Brandon Crawford, but it didn't win them the game. 

Pitching Duel: Jeff Samardzija had another good outing for the Cubs, as he went seven innings, gave up six hits, four runs, three earned runs. and struck out ten. A notable part of his performance was that he struck out the side in the bottom of the second. Justin Grimm and Neil Ramirez relieved Samardzija with two innings of shutout ball. On the other hand. the Giants pitching struggled as a whole. Yusmiero Petit only went five innings, gave up six hits, four earned runs, and struck out five. David Huff, who came on in relief for Petit, was worse on the mound. Huff only went 1.1 innings, gave up seven hits, four earned runs, and collected one strike out. George Kontos, Javier Lopez, and Juan Gutierrez all pitched a combined 2.2 shutout innings to slow down the Cubs offense. 

Hot/Cold Hitters: The Cubs offense was hot today, as Bonifaicio, Rizzo, Valbuena, Castillo, Schierholtz, and Barney went a combined eleven for twenty-five with six runs batted in. Starlin Castro was cold at the plate, going 0 for 4 with a strikeout. The Giants got some good production from Pablo Sandoval, as he went two for four with three runs batted in. Hunter Pence and Hector Sanchez both went 0 for 4 for the Giants. 

What's Next: Game two of this three-game series is tomorrow with first pitch at 9:15 PM CT. Jake Arrieta will square off against Tim Hudson. 

-Daniel (DanielDoreCTC)