Cubs continue to lose on the road, fall to Sox 6-5

In the second game of the southern side of the crosstown classic, the Cubs continued their woes on the road with yet another loss to the Sox by the score of 5-6.

The Cubs jumped out to an early lead in the first as Kosuke Fukudome came in on a single from Derrek Lee and Daryle Ward singled in Mark DeRosa. The Cubbies racked up three hits in the inning, but after Ozzie Guillen took a visit to the mound to calm Sox starter Javier Vasques, he took down Aramis Ramirez, Jim Edmonds, and Geovany Soto in order.

In the bottom of the inning, Cubs starter Sean Gallagher shared in Vasquez's troubles, with a single by A.J. Pierzynski followed up by a two-run home run off of the hot bat of Jermaine Dye. Joe Crede kept it going with an RBI double, scoring Jim Thome. Gallagher ended the inning by striking out Nick Swisher, and the Cubs went into the second inning trailing by one.

The Cubs went down in order in the top of the second. Meanwhile, the Sox continued to bring in runs. Two doubles by Alexi Ramirez and Orlando Cabrera put the Sox up by two. Luckily, Gallagher was able to end the inning with no more damage done.

Things got interesting in the top of the fourth when DeRosa drove in Mike Fontenot, putting the Cubs within one. Then, Lee brought in Fukudome on a double to put the Cubs up 5-4.

The Sox struck back in a big way with a leadoff home run by Alexi Ramirez. However, Gallagher stopped the bleeding right away by retiring two on strikeouts and making Carlos Quentin pop out.

Boone Logan replaced Vasquez in the top of the fifth. Besides a double by Ronny Cedeno, there was little action in the inning, and the Cubs went down with a runner in scoring position.

When Carlos Marmol came in to relieve Gallagher in the bottom of the seventh, he immediately faced trouble. Carlos Quentin hit a leadoff home run against Marmol on an 0-2 fastball, and the Sox jumped out ahead by one.

In the bottom of the ninth, Lee led things of with his second double of the day. Lee went 5 for 5 with three singles and two doubles. However, the Cubs, once again, could not take advantage of a runner in scoring position, and Bobby Jenks got the save for the Sox.

The Sox have taken two at U.S. Cellular, and the Cubs continue to play mediocre baseball on the road. The series will wrap up tomorrow on ESPN at 7:00 pm Central Time.