If there was a memo asking Matt Garza to turn in a quality start on Thursday night in Washington, then the righthander definitely missed it.
Garza turned in the second shortest outing of his career, giving up seven runs on eight hits over just 2.0 innings pitched. All of the damage came in the third inning, where Garza failed to record an out. By the time Garza was out of the game and Jeff Samardzija closed out the inning, Washington was up on the Cubs 7-0. That lead would increase to eight in the bottom of the fourth.
But the Cubs somehow managed to creep back in, nabbing six runs in the top of the sixth inning off of Washington starter Livan Hernandez. Those runs were due to RBI hits by Alfonso Soriano and Darwin Barney, and a pinch hit three run homer by Blake DeWitt.
In the top of the seventh, Carlos Pena tied the game at eight with a two run blast off of reliever Sean Burnett. Aramis Ramirez briefly put the Cubs ahead in the top of the eighth with an RBI single that scored Starlin Castro. But Michael Morse answered with an RBI single for Washington in the bottom of the frame, sending the game tied at 9 into the ninth inning.
With two outs in the ninth inning, Darwin Barney hit an RBI double to right field to score Tony Campana from first, giving the Cubs a 10-9 lead. Carlos Marmol then closed out the game, with a little bit of trouble, for his 18th save of the season.
The Cubs will continue their road trip with a visit to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night. First pitch is at 6:05 P.M., CDT.