The day off yesterday was probably helpful for everyone to reset and prep for the divisional rivals, if not quite as much fun for fans of the team.
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Apart from that fourth inning, he keeps getting better and better.
ATHLETICS 6, RAYS 3 (at St. Petersburg, Fla.) – Danny Valencia hit his first two home runs of the season in his first game back from a hamstring injury and Oakland ended a five-game skid.
Meanwhile, Arrieta’s teammates were quick to rise to the occasion when things turned “bad’ for an inning for their ace”. “Any pitch he wants to throw is gonna be a really good pitch because he’s got plus pitches”.
Apart from the fourth inning Saturday, Jake Arrieta threw a near-immaculate game.
It could reach 21 games Saturday at Wrigley Field against those Pirates, who have fewer hits on their five-game losing streak against the reigning NL Cy Young victor than the Cubs have provided him runs.
Josh Harrison’s hot grounder came on the heels of a two-run, three-hit, one-hit-batter, one-wild-pitch ride.
Chicago had runners on first and second with none out in the fourth.
Stephen Strasburg remained unbeaten and Michael A. Taylor had two hits, two walks and scored twice as the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 6-4 in the first game of a day-night doubleheader. The Pirates were unsuccessful the last time Locke pitched. Jon Lester takes the mound against Gerrit Cole, and yes, it’s supposed to be sunny and less windy, though still coolish in the mid-50s.
Jorge Soler went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored for the Cubs after Maddon and baseball operations chief Theo Epstein defended the 24-year-old Cuban. Will the Chicago Cubs win it all this year? Michael Wacha (WAH’-kuh) tries to snap a three-game winless streak when he starts the opener of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Cubs run differential is a plus 110 (213-103). That didn’t happen, obviously, but he’s probably due to return to the lineup soon. CF Andrew McCutchen is a lifetime. Marte has long deserved more credit than he’s received, probably because he’s a corner outfielder who provides a lot of his value through defense and baserunning and who plays next to a genuine star in McCutchen. “Let it eat. That’s when you’re the best, ‘” Montero said. 120 in his first two years in the league. So the Pirates were never able to respond to the Kang hit by pitch. Unlike numerous guys around him on that list, Polanco isn’t a lumbering slugger, but the kind of speedy player who you would expect to outstrip his expected production, if anything. The third baseman/shortstop has torn the cover off the ball in his five games back, and in hindsight, his signing looks like a smart move by the Pirates. “We lost two in a row”.
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The Cubs finished the scoring with two more in the eighth. It’s not like this is a make-or-break series, or anything even close to that. The Cubs have a SU record of 11-10 against teams in their division. We’ve fared well against them thus far, but we know the quality they have over there and that hasn’t changed.
