It was by no means a pretty sight, but the New York Yankees defeated the Chicago Cubs 4-3 to win their first game since 2003 at Wrigley Field today. I actually have no idea how they won today's game.
In the first, Ryan Dempster worked into and out of trouble in a Houdini-like fashion, loading the bases only to strike out Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher. They also wasted a leadoff walk to Russell Martin in the second inning.
New York pushed across two runs in the third inning. Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez each had a single followed by an RBI double by Cano and a sacrifice-fly by Swisher to give the Yanks a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth, A.J. Burnett surrendered a two-run home run to former Tampa Bay Ray first baseman Carlos Pena that tied the game 2-2.
Eduardo Nunez had a leadoff single to start the sixth inning followed by an absolutely beautiful, and lucky, sacrifice bunt by A.J. Burnett. Brett Gardner had an infield single and Curtis Granderson knocked him in with a sacrifice-fly. Yes, "small ball" at Wrigley Field today.
Nunez had supplied the Yankees with a huge insurance run in the ninth, doubling home Cano. Swisher was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
Mariano Rivera decided to make things interesting in the ninth inning by allowing a lead off home run to Reed Johnson. Alfonso Soriano proceeded to single up the middle to put a man on with no outs. Geovany Soto hit into a double play and Jeff Baker struck out to end the game.
Some rather curious base-running errors when Alex Rodriguez tried to stretch a single into a double in the fifth inning and Brett Gardner was caught in a pickle to end the sixth.
A.J. Burnett pitched well outside of the two-run home run surrendered to Carlos Pena. His final line was 5.1 innings, four hits, three walks, eight strike outs and only two earned runs.
Corey Wade, Hector Noesi, David Robertson combined for 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. Nobody surrendered a hit or walk, and Robertson struck out two.
The Yankees had eleven hits and ten walks today, and only scored four runs. "That's baseball", I suppose.
Comment of the game: John Sterling's explanation of poor running on the bases.
Play of the game: It says Pena's homer, but the website hasn't updated yet. I'd go with double play in the ninth.