National League Preview from The Sports Network
Monday, April 30th
(All times Eastern)
Chicago Cubs (8-14) at Philadelphia Phillies (10-12), 7:05 p.m.
Probable Starting Pitchers: Chicago - Chris Volstad (0-3, 6.14)
Philadelphia - Vance Worley (2-1, 2.16)
(Sports Network) - The Chicago Cubs take aim at their second series win of the
season when they close out a four-game set tonight against the Philadelphia
Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Matt Garza pitched the Cubs to a 5-1 victory on Sunday by tossing seven
shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and only one walk. Garza allowed just one
hit, a single by Jimmy Rollins to start the bottom half of the first inning.
Rafael Dolis pitched a scoreless eighth and Carlos Marmol allowed a run in the
ninth before closing out the game.
"I just stuck to my game plan of keeping them off balance and just tried to
induce weak ground balls and weak pop ups," said Garza.
Starlin Castro drove in two runs and Bryan LaHair had three hits, including
two doubles, and scored twice for the Cubs, who have won four of their last
six games.
Chicago will send Chris Volstad to the mound for Monday's series finale and he
is winless (0-3) in four starts this season. Volstad last pitched in a 5-1
loss to St. Louis last Wednesday and allowed four runs in six innings. The
right-hander has made 12 career starts against the Phillies, going 2-5 with a
5.88 earned run average.
The Cubs will visit Cincinnati for three games after this series.
Philadelphia's offensive woes continued in Sunday's setback, as Rollins and
Hinter Pence accounted for the club's two hits.
Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick was saddled with the loss and yielded three
runs -- two earned -- and five hits through six innings. David Herndon gave up
two more runs in two innings of relief.
"You're gonna hit a stretch like this where you're going to have to answer
questions about not scoring runs," said Phillies outfielder Juan Pierre.
"Every team I've been on, these questions are nothing new. I think a lot of
guys have been through it enough where you just can't panic."
The Phillies are counting on Vance Worley to earn a split of this series when
he takes the mound tonight. Worley has won back-to-back starts and previously
pitched in last Tuesday's 8-5 victory at Arizona. He tossed six innings of
one-run ball and struck out six batters to improve to 2-1 in four starts to go
along with a 2.76 ERA.
Worley, a right-hander, defeated the Cubs the only time he faced them last
July 20 at Wrigley Field. He gave up one run in eight innings of a 9-1 win.
Philadelphia will hit the road for six games against the Braves and Nationals
after hosting the Cubs.
Since 2002, the Phils are 21-12 versus the Cubs at home.
04/30 11:00:44 ET

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