The Cubs and Red Sox battled to a 2-2 tie Thursday night, as pitching and defense dominated the game. The Cubs struck in the bottom half of the 1st inning when Will Lochetto scored on Mark Teamerson’s double. But the Sox’s Corey Ziring settled into a groove after that, retiring the next 11 batters he faced.

The Cubs defense held the Sox of the board until the third inning. The Red Sox had their only base runner of the 1st inning erased when Mark Teamerson threw him out at 3rd; and Tommy Van Leer, Angelo Lochetto and Julian Bonsall-Shepard all made great catches in the first two innings. But Corinne Mulhearn led off the third with a triple, and scored when Michael Kramer knocked in the run.

For the Cubs, Angelo Lochetto was able to get a two out single in the fourth. After stealing second, he scored when Tommy Van Leer drove him in with a base hit to right field. The two out RBI put the Cubs back on top, 2-1. But it wouldn’t last, as the Red Sox battled right back in the 5th. Corey Ziring doubled to lead off, and scored on Ethan Bedwell’s double. Joey Cimino came in to close out the game for the Cubs, getting the third out himself on a pop up; and Kyle Virbitsky pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 6th for the Sox to leave the teams knotted at 2 runs apiece. Both teams pitching staffs excelled; the Cubs struck out 8 and only walked 2 runners and the Red Sox walked none and struck out 14. A real defensive gem!