Chicago, IL - Catcher Koyie Hill drove in a career-high five runs on a pair of doubles as the Chicago Cubs routed the punchless San Francisco Giants, 12-1, in the third contest of a four-game set at Wrigley Field.
Jacque Jones added a two-run single and scored a pair of runs for the Cubs, who have won five of their last six games and are 10-4 in the month of July. Mike Fontenot and Cliff Floyd each knocked in a run and scored twice for Chicago.
Carlos Zambrano (12-7) worked five scoreless innings and allowed just two hits, with a pair of walks and three strikeouts. He has five victories to just one loss over his last six starts and with the effort, became the National League’s first 12-game winner.
“The highest pitch counts of the year he’s had here,” said Cubs manager Lou Piniella, talking about Zambrano’s early exit. “The weather was just really hot (and Zambrano had complained of a heat-related headache). It was a perfect time to get him out of there.”
Barry Bonds was not in the starting lineup for the third straight game for the Giants. It’s the first time he’s missed three starts in row since sitting out five straight last season.
Bonds, who made a pinch-hit appearance in Tuesday’s game, is hitless in 21 straight at-bats, just two shy of his career-worst 0-for-23 stretch set during his rookie season in 1986. Bonds also hasn’t homered since July 3 at Cincinnati and remains stuck at 751 career home runs, four shy of Hank Aaron’s all-time mark.
Matt Cain (3-11) tossed four-plus innings, allowing six runs on just four hits. The struggling right-hander walked five, fanned three and tossed 92 pitches, just 52 for strikes.
Ray Durham scored the lone run for San Francisco, which has dropped five of its last six games.
Chicago didn’t have a hit until the fourth inning, when a two-out single by Floyd opened the floodgates. Mark DeRosa punched a hit through the left side, Fontenot walked and Jones ripped a line drive off the glove of second baseman Ray Durham, scoring two runs. Hill’s double then chased home two more, boosting the Cubs to a 4-0 lead.
The club followed with a five-spot in the fifth. Alfonso Soriano drew a lead- off walk, then ended up at third on a pair of wild pitches from Cain, who also issued a free pass to Ryan Theriot.
Left-hander Patrick Misch took over for Cain, and a passed ball scored Soriano, while moving Theriot to second. Two batters later, Floyd’s double plated Theriot. DeRosa then fanned for the second out, but after back-to- back walks loaded the bases, Hill cleared them with a double off the wall in center to give Chicago a 9-0 cushion.
“I always felt good,” said Hill, who also drew two walks in the contest. “I go out there and work with (hitting coach) Gerald Perry, and I try to focus on each at-bat.”
Angel Pagan added an RBI double in the eighth, before a run-scoring single by DeRosa and a sacrifice fly by Fontenot made it 12-0.
Durham scored on an error in the ninth to break up the shutout.
Game Notes
Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee dropped his appeal and began serving a five-game suspension Wednesday for his role in a June 16 brawl with the San Diego Padres…Cain has just one win in his last 11 starts…Giants catcher Guillermo Rodriguez left the game with dehydration and heat illness in the fifth inning…Chicago third baseman Aramis Ramirez took a scheduled day off, while Floyd returned after missing three games with a sore left shoulder.
