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  Monday, Jul. 31 8:05pm ET
Grace drives in Cubs' runs in victory
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

CHICAGO (AP) -- Four trades in two weeks signal that the Chicago Cubs are planning for the future. That's fine, says Mark Grace. But how about the current season?

Mark Grace
Grace

"A lot of people have been talking about next year. But everybody in here is talking about this year. How can you not?" Grace said Monday night after driving in both runs to back Kevin Tapani's strong pitching as the Cubs blanked the Colorado Rockies 2-0.

The Cubs have won 9 of 10. And since falling 18 games under .500 just before the All-Star break, they've taken 16 of 20.

"I've been around long enough to know that there are stretches where you look a whole lot worse than you are and stretches where you play better than what you are," said Tapani, who allowed just four hits in 6 2/3 innings.

"We're in a stretch where we're playing really good and we want to ride it as far as we can," he said. "We said, 'Let's see how many series we can win and get back to a respectable season.' "

Tapani (7-8) ran his career record against the Rockies to 6-0. He left in the seventh after giving up a single to Brian Hunter and a walk to Butch Huskey with two outs.

Felix Heredia then retired Terry Shumpert on a popup to end the inning before Steve Rain and Rick Aguilera completed the shutout. Aguilera got his 24th save in 31 opportunities.

The Rockies, who have lost 21 of 26 games, have been shut out eight times this season -- all on the road -- and twice in their last four games.

"I've never seen an offensive club like this go through a spell like this," Rockies manager Buddy Bell said. "We've been struggling for a while and it's happened to us at a very difficult time. It would be different if we had guys who couldn't swing the bats."

Grace had an RBI single in the fourth off Brian Bohanon (5-8) and hit his 10th homer leading off the seventh against John Wasdin, making his Rockies debut after being traded from Boston.

The Rockies fell a season-low four games under .500 despite a strong effort from Bohanon, who allowed just five hits in six innings, including two singles to Tapani.

Game notes
The Cubs traded OF Henry Rodriguez and got OF Rondell White. With neither in town, Gary Matthews Jr. got the start in left and made two nice catches, one while crashing into the wall along the left field line and the other while diving for a low liners. ... Tapani's multi-hit game was the first of his career. After his second single in the sixth, Bohannon picked him off second. ... The three-game series marks the Rockies only appearance at Wrigley Field this season. Colorado is 23-16 at Wrigley, its best road showing against any team. ... The Cubs called up left-handers Daniel Garibay and Phil Norton from Triple-A Iowa. Garibay is slated to make his first major league start Tuesday. ... The last time the Rockies played at Wrigley on May 5, 1999, they became just the third team since 1900 to score in every inning of a nine-inning game. ... Jeffrey Hammonds went 0-for-4 and had his 10-game hitting streak snapped.
 


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