As if there wasn’t enough baseball being played at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres took the first game of their split doubleheader to extras.
Matt Garza started for the Cubs and had a solid outing, throwing six innings and giving up six hits and three walks. He also struck out nine. Garza gave up no runs, but was still denied the W when Carlos Marmol blew his save chance and allowed the tying run to score in the top of the 9th. Three innings later, Reed Johnson hit a solo walk off home run off of Luke Gregerson to win the game.
The Cubs will send James Russell to the mound in the evening tilt in his second ever major league start. In his first start at Houston, Russell lasted just 1.2 innings, while giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits. He’ll try to improve upon that outing as the Cubs go for a clean sweep of the Padres.
Opposing him for the Padres will be Aaron Harang. Harang has had a great start to the year, going 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 0.94 WHIP. In his career against the Cubs, Harang is 10-8 with a 4.51 ERA and 1.28 WHIP. Marlon Byrd has hit Harang well, posting a .417 average 1.128 OPS against him, while Aramis Ramirez has taken Harang deep four times in his career.
The weather in Chicago is forecast to stay cloudy with a low of 34 degrees. First pitch is at 6:05 P.M., CDT, and the game will be televised on CSN+.