Cubs Win in Extra Innings on Soriano's Grand Slam

Sports Betting News - July 28th, 2009 - Written by Bruce

Alfonso Soriano made up for a costly mistake earlier in the game by hitting a 13th inning grand slam to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 5-1 victory over the Houston Astros. With one out and a runner on first in the 11th inning, Soriano failed to run out a slow ground ball hit to third. He thought the ball had hit him but the Chicago crowd booed him mercifully. When he stepped up to the plate two innings later Soriano made up for his earlier blunder in a big way. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Soriano hit a blast over the center field wall for his fourth career grand slam ending the game.

Up until the grand slam Soriano was having a brutal game. He was 0-5 with three strikeouts to go along with his 11th inning blunder which led to the Cubs star being booed by his home fans. The game winning home run was a sweet way for Soriano to make up his less than stellar play leading up to it. Carlos Zambrano started for the Cubs and was strong pitching seven innings and giving up only one run. Houston starter Wandy Rodgriguez matched Zambrano pitch for pitch also throwing seven innings of one run ball. Neither starting pitcher factored into the decision. Former Notre Dame football star Jeff Samardzija pitched two scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win. Astros reliever Chris Sampson gave up the grand slam to Soriano earning him the loss.

Monday night's dramatic victory gave the Cubs (52-45) their fifth straight win. They hold a 1/2 game lead in the NL Central Division over the St. Louis Cardinals. The heartbreaking loss dropped the third place Astros (50-49) to three games behind the Cubs. Derrick Lee came up big for Chicago going 2-3 with his 20th home run of the season. Carlos Lee accounted for the only Astros run with a 2nd inning home run off of Zambrano. With the NL Central so tightly contested, this win may be just the boost the Cubs needed to help carry them to a division title.