It seems that the Cubs still haven’t solved their fifth starter problem. The latest option in the rotation to replace the still injured Andrew Cashner, Doug Davis, had quite the rough night on Friday at Fenway Park.
Davis managed to pitch just 3.2 innings, giving up seven earned runs on eight hits and three walks. It’s not as though the relief options fared much better, however. The combination of Scott Maine, James Russell, and Jeff Samardzjia gave up another eight runs over the last 4.1 innings, though only six were earned as the Cubs fielders committed four errors on the night, two by Starlin Castro alone.
Most of the Red Sox lineup got in on the 19-hit festival, with Adrian Gonzalez tallying four RBIs and Kevin Youklis adding three of his own. Even Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a home run — to the top of the Green Monster, where it was caught by Cubs team president Crane Kenney.
The Cubs offense knocked around Boston starter Jon Lester to the tune of five runs on twelve hits over six innings, but it simply wasn’t enough to lead to a victory in the face of the offensive dominance by the Boston lineup. After Lester was taken out, the Boston bullpen shut down any hope the Cubs had of a comeback, in the former of a three innings long save by Scott Atchison.
The two teams will play the second game of the three game set tomorrow at Fenway. First pitch will be at 6:10 P.M., CDT.