After finally ending his Opening Day drought on Monday night, Big Z let out a big sigh of relief.
Aided by solo home runs by Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano pitched the Cubs to a 4-2 win over the Astros at Minute Maid Park, earning his first Opening Day victory on his fifth attempt.
“It is [a relief] ,” he said. “I feel good. I feel happy. It finally came true after five years. It’s nice to have the win, especially for the team. One thing that I was impressed by was Milton Bradley was 0-for-3 and he came in happy. That’s a good sign. Everybody was happy … Kevin Gregg gave up a run and came in with the same attitude.
“That’s important for the team. It doesn’t matter what they do — they just care about the team.”
There was much for the Cubs to be happy about Monday, including clutch relief pitching by Aaron Heilman, who induced a double-play grounder in the seventh to bail Zambrano out of a jam. Heilman, Neal Cotts and Carlos Marmol got the Cubs into the ninth, where Gregg was nicked for a run but managed to post the save.
“The way we drew it up before the ballgame is how it played out,” manager Lou Piniella said. “Good formula.”
Zambrano allowed one run in six-plus innings, striking out six and getting stronger as the game wore on. He was able to relax thanks to the slugging of Soriano and Ramirez, the designated goats of last October’s playoff debacle.
Soriano started the game with a second-pitch home run off Roy Oswalt, and Ramirez added a line-drive homer in the second, the 250th of his career. Ryan Theriot’s sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Mike Fontenot, and the Cubs were home free.
For one day at least, Piniella would not have to answer questions about why he bats Soriano in the leadoff spot.
“How about that?” an incredulous Piniella said.
It was Soriano’s 50th career homer leading off a game, third in baseball history.
“You guys don’t like to see Alfonso leading off the game,” Ramirez said. “You guys are always talking about that. But he’s one of the best. He’s going to struggle, just like everybody. But when he’s playing, we’re a better team.”
Soriano has been hitting well for the last three weeks and knew he was going to look for a pitch to hit out in his first at-bat.
“That’s what I’ve been doing for how many years, eight?” he said. “I’m very happy that Lou is keeping me batting leadoff, and I’m going to try and do my job.”
But Zambrano’s streak-ending win was the real story. He caused some concern when catcher Geovany Soto thought he was suffering from a cramped finger on his right hand, though Zambrano shrugged it off afterward.
“Geo is the one that should have Lasik surgery,” he joked. “It was his second Opening Day. He has to get more mature.”
Zambrano’s only struggles were at the plate, where he went 0-for-3. Piniella didn’t ask him to put down a bunt with a man on in the seventh and a 3-0 lead, saying he wasn’t sure if Zambrano even knew the sign.
“That would be a good quiz,” Piniella said.
“I don’t know the bunt sign,” Zambrano said with a grin. “There is no bunt sign for me.”
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psullivan@tribune.com
