The guys in the Chicago jerseys hit a total of six doubles, tying a season high, as they beat the Florida Marlins 9-2 on Sunday.
The four most significant doubles came in the eight-run seventh inning. With the Marlins leading 2-0, Mike Fontenot led off with a two-bagger. He and Reed Johnson scored on Alfonso Soriano’s double. Aramis Ramirez drove in two runs with a double. Reed Johnson, at the plate for the second time in the inning, hit a double that drove in three.
Sunday’s game marks the thirty-sixth time this season that the Cubs have come from behind to win. They headed home with a 5-1 road trip under their belts. During the first half of the season, the Cubs had a hard time winning on the road.
Ryan Dempster got the win in Sunday’s game. Now 14-5 with a 2.92 ERA, Dempster struck out 10 of the 25 batters he faced, allowing both of Florida’s runs on five hits.
The Cubs are off today, then will be playing their next six games at home against two last-place teams. They face the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Cincinnati is playing .440 and is in last place in the National League Central, 21.5 games behind the first-place Cubs.
Then the Cubs play the Washington Nationals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. At .352, the Nationals have the worst record in baseball and are in last place in the National League East, 24.5 games behind the New York Mets.
The Chicago Cubs remain in first place in the National League Central, a position that they first took sometime in May and have kept very consistently since then. The City of Chicago has been holding its collective breath during that whole time. The Cubs have been laboring under a World Series championship drought for a century. But all things must pass.
Tags: Chicago Cubs, Ryan Dempster
