• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Zambrano hopes hot July carries over vs. Pirates

Aug 3, 2008 - 6:11 AM Chicago (66-45) at Pittsburgh (51-59) 2:20 pm. EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Carlos Zambrano hopes his July dominance carries over to August when he takes the hill on Sunday as the Chicago Cubs face the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Cubs hold a four-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers (62-49) in the National League Central, thanks in large part to Zambrano's impressive July. The hefty righthander went 4-1 with a 1.78 ERA, and held opposing batters to a .176 average in five starts.

Zambrano (12-4, 2.80 ERA) finished off the month by tossing eight scoreless innings in a 7-1 victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday and will try and help Chicago improve on its major-league best 40-15 home mark.

He has had great success against Pittsburgh recently, going 3-0 with a 2.74 ERA in his last four outings. And the All-Star righthander should be able to improve on that now that his biggest nemesis, Jason Bay, is in Boston. Bay was traded to the Red Sox in a three-team, deadline-deal that sent Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers and four prospects to Pittsburgh.

Zambrano is likely glad he doesn't have to face Bay, who hit .359 (14-for-39) with five home runs and 16 RBI against him.

Pittsburgh, which has lost 10 of 14 meetings with Chicago, sends Ian Snell (4-8, 6.04) to the hill. Snell went 0-2 with an 8.42 ERA in his last seven starts before allowing four runs and eight hits in seven innings of an 8-4 win over Colorado on Monday.