Cubs, Volstad, pick up first win against Reds
Cincinnati (AP) - In what was a pitchers duel between Chris Volstad and Bronson Arroyo the Cubs came out victorious. In the first 3 innings both teams had combined for just 1 hit. The Cubs however were able to string together some hits in the fourth and take the lead on a RBI double by Alfonso Soriano. That would prove to be enough for Volstad who pitched eight innings of shut out baseball. Carlos Marmol came in and slammed the door shut in the ninth inning picking up his 7th save.
Cubs Corner: Marmol has yet to blow a save, though he does have 2 losses on the year....The win puts the Cubs 0.5 games ahead of the Reds for first place in the Central....Despite a terrible batting average (.177) Bryan LaHair picked up his 5th double of the year....The Reds threw out two different runners at the plate which kept the game at 1-0.
| Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati Reds | ||||||||||||
| May 1, 2012 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chicago (13-10) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Cincinnati (13-9) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| W: C. Volstad (1-1) L: B. Arroyo (1-2) S: C. Marmol (7) | ||||||||||||
| Chicago Cubs | ||||||||
| HITTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | HR | AVG |
| David Dejesus | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .258 | |
| Reed Johnson | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .194 | |
| Starlin Castro | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .275 | |
| Alfonso Soriano | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .217 | |
| Jeff Baker | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .231 | |
| Bryan LaHair | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .177 | |
| Geovany Soto | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .162 | |
| Adrian Cardenas | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .200 | |
| Chris Volstad | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| BATTING: 2B: LaHair (5), Soriano (2) RBI: Soriano (13) HBP: DeJesus | ||||||||
| Cincinnati Reds | ||||||||
| HITTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | HR | AVG |
| Stubbs | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .259 | |
| Valdez | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .299 | |
| Votto | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .271 | |
| Phillips | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .274 | |
| Rolen | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .284 | |
| Hanigan | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .328 | |
| Ludwick | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .205 | |
| Heisey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .211 | |
| Harris | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .130 | |
| Arroyo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .154 | |
| Cairo | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .217 | |
| Chicago Cubs | ||||||||
| PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| C. Volstad (W, 1-1) | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3.51 | |
| C. Marmol (S, 7) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.45 | |
| Cincinnati Reds | ||||||||
| PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| B. Arroyo (L, 1-2) | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3.09 | |
| J. Arredondo | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.84 | |
| S. Le Cure | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.31 | |

..... Lendy Castillo has been perfect out of the bullpen this season and has yet to give up a run...The Cubs will now head back to Chicago to play the Los Angeles Dodgers who are currently in last place in the NL West with a record of 11-14.
. The Braves rallied behind that and got out to a 3-0 lead on the Cubs. It was for nought though as Craig Kimbrel blew his 2nd save today as the Cubs sent 8 men to the plate for 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Braves were sparked by Freddie Freeman going deep to Left Center off of James Russell in the 11th inning which would be enough even after a Starling Castro double in the bottom of the inning.
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