With a first-pitch temperature barely above freezing, Monday was the kind of night Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto could do without.
CHICAGO (AP) — With a first-pitch temperature barely above freezing, Monday was the kind of night Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto could do without.
Good thing for him it ended on a high note — even if it took an extra inning.
Pinch-hitter Tyler Colvin doubled home Soto with two outs in the 10th inning to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 1-0 win over the San Diego Padres on Monday night.
Soto reached on a fielder’s choice with two outs, then scored from first when Colvin lined a shot to right. The Cubs had an abbreviated celebration at home before bolting for the clubhouse for cover.
"The whole game you go out there and you’re kind of miserable and it’s so cold," Soto said. "We wanted to get out of there so badly. We were like, ‘Man, all we need is one.’ But it was tough to get that one."
Carlos Marmol (1-1) struck out two in 1 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win for the Cubs.
Chad Qualls (0-1) allowed a run while getting two outs for San Diego.
Tim Stauffer scattered four hits in seven scoreless innings, striking out four and walking one. He lowered his ERA from 4.80 to 3.27 before being replaced by pinch-hitter Brad Hawpe in the eighth after throwing just 95 pitches.
"I felt pretty good still," Stauffer said. "I felt like I had another one in me; it’s just a matter of my spot coming up in the order. I felt just as good late in the game as at any other point.
Wearing no sleeves, Carlos Zambrano one-upped Stauffer, allowing three hits in eight scoreless innings for Chicago. He struck out 10 and walked one.
Zambrano struck out the side in the first, then got stronger as the game went on. He retired the last 13 batters he faced, lowering his ERA from 6.11 to 4.21.
Zambrano, who hasn’t lost since being put on the suspended list for a dugout tirade during a loss to the White Sox on June 25, faced his only real trouble in the second.
He struck out Nick Hundley to lead off the inning before allowing a single to Ryan Ludwick. Cameron Maybin then reached base on a fielder’s choice, and Jason Bartlett’s single advanced Maybin to third.
But Zambrano stranded both runners by getting Stauffer to ground out to shortstop.
Zambrano allowed just one more hit a fourth-inning single by Hundley.
"Big Z has been here for almost 10 years so he can handle (the weather)," Soto said. "Plus seeing him pitch with no sleeves, I was even colder. But he’s a veteran so he knows what to do and he brought it."
San Diego’s 3-4-5 hitters — Orlando Hudson, Jorge Cantu and Hundley — went a combined 1 for 11 with eight strikeouts. Bartlett, who entered the game batting .167, led the Padres with two hits.
"It’s Chicago. It’s the windy city. It’s a great place to play in the summertime," Hudson said. "But it’s not summertime."
Chicago’s 3-4-5 hitters — Marlon Byrd, Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena — also went a combined 1-for-11. The trio’s only hit was a bunt single by Pena.
Pena just missed winning it with a left-field shot in the ninth, but the wind kept him from his first homer in a Cubs uniform.
"He crushed that ball," Cubs manager Mike Quade said. "Well guess what, maybe a bunt single is the way to go sometimes. On nights like this when we’re scrapping for a run, why not?
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP Photo/Jim Prisching)
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