Game Thirty-Three – Cubs 5 Indians 7
WP – Fausto Carmona (4-0) LP – Ted Lilly (1-1) Save – Rafael Perez (1)
Whoever said Spring Training games are meaningless forgot to tell Mark DeRosa. DeRosa made more than a statement to the team that dealt him in the off-season on Sunday afternoon. DeRosa was a one-man wrecking crew. He hit two long home runs off of Ted Lilly, a 2-run shot and a solo, and just missed a third homer in the fifth. Mark DeRosa hit three balls for a total of around 1400 feet off Ted Lilly. DeRosa added a sacrifice fly off Chad Gaudin in the seventh for good measure.
Mark DeRosa finished the day 3-for-4 with two home runs, a double, three runs scored and four RBI.
Other than the damage by Mark DeRosa, Ted Lilly had a good day in only his second Cactus League start. Lilly shut down the rest of the Indians’ lineup and struck out eight while issuing just two walks…both to the last two batters he faced in the sixth. In between the DeRosa’s blasts, Lilly retired eight in a row.
Lilly’s line for Sunday…four runs, all earned, on seven hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in five-plus innings.
Kerry Wood made his return to the HoHoKam Park mound and other than issuing a walk to Ryan Theriot, he retired the Cubs with little difficulty. Wood struck out Milton Bradley looking to end the seventh.
Milton Bradley hit his fourth home run of the spring off Fausto Carmona in the third inning. Bradley’s two-run dinger cleared the bullpen area beyond the right field wall at HoHoKam. Bradley drove in the third Cubs’ run with a fielder’s choice in fifth.
After Chad Gaudin allowed the game to get out of hand in the seventh, Reed Johnson made it a little more interesting in the eighth. Johnson hit his second home run of the spring (both pinch hitting), a 2-run dinger to left, off of Masa Kobayashi.
The day belonged to Mark DeRosa…hopefully his former teammates will remember he is wearing a different uniform when they see him again in June. For the record, Mark DeRosa’s first home run on the first pitch from Lilly was a no-doubter. Estimated between 420-450 feet, Alfonso Soriano did not move. His second blast hit off the scoreboard in left, another 450 feet…and his double hit off the very top of the wall in center, and missed leaving the yard by a few feet.
Ted Lilly turned in a good outing on Sunday in his penultimate Spring Training start. Lilly had not pitched in quite sometime and it was very surprising when he took the mound to start the sixth inning.
‘The Bulldog‘ will give up home runs, he proved it last year with the 32 he served up, his objective must be to make them solo shots to limit the damage.
Chad Gaudin replaced Lilly in the sixth and did not allow the walks Lilly surrendered to score. It was a good sign at the time for Gaudin to be effective out of the pen. But the seventh inning was a whole different story.
Gaudin was rocked once again. He gave up three runs on three hits in the seventh. Grady Sizemore led off the inning with a triple, he scored on Mark DeRosa’s sacrifice fly. After a single by Victor Martinez, George Lombard (number 85) hit his second home run of the spring over the wall in right.
David Patton retired the Indians in order in the eighth with two strikeouts (Tony Graffanino and John Drennen) and Neal Cotts pitched a scoreless ninth. Cotts gave up a pair of hits but struck out Mark DeRosa.
The game versus the Indians was the Cubs’ last Sunday contest of Spring Training.
The Cubs travel to Surprise on Monday to take on the Royals. Rich Harden is scheduled to face Kyle Davies.