Pirates C Eric Fryer replaced Erik Kratz behind the plate to catch RHP Chad Kuhl in his third major league start…. “We’ve had plenty of opportunities”. “No, we all go through times where, just like hitters, you go through slumps”.
Advertisement
Added Maddon: “We hit the wall a little bit (late in the first half), and everybody is coming after us hard”.
Starling Marte grounded to third baseman Javier Baez. McCutchen, who finished in the top five of the NL MVP voting each of the past four seasons, raised his batting average to.244, still a career low.
Bell’s hit was certainly big as it helped set up the inning.
“I was trying to save energy because the game was tied in case I was going to have to go out again”, Chapman said through a translator. This was his first home run to left field this year. “I was able to get a good pitch to drive and (Bryant) did the rest”.
The Pirates led 3-2 after two, thanks to Sean Rodriguez’s third homer in as many games and fourth in the past five, but the Cubs tied it in the third.
Mariners 3, Royals 2: Hisashi Iwakuma pitched into the seventh, Seattle scored the go-ahead runs on Yordano Ventura’s wild pitch and the Mariners held on to win at Kansas City. I get it. It’d be wonderful to do that.
Arrieta had a 20-game winning streak from July 2015 to May of this season.
“I’m good”, Arrieta said. “If I’m executing pitches, that’s all that matters, and I’m not”.
The Pirates have won nine of 10 over a stretch coinciding with the Cubs losing nine of 10, meaning Chicago’s lead in the National League Central is down to 6 1/2 games.
The Chicago Cubs play one more game tomorrow afternoon before a much needed All-Star break.
The Cubs went 6-15 over their last 21 games as starting pitching and the bullpen struggled and injuries continued to mount. Niese allowed a series of singles that led to two runs for the Cubs in the first, with an assist to Andrew McCutchen, who let one of those singles bounce off his glove.
Blue Jays 6, Tigers 1 • All-Star slugger Josh Donaldson hit a three-run homer, R.A. Dickey won back-to-back starts for the first time in a month and host Toronto beat Detroit. After walking Contreras to put runners on first and third with one out, Nicasio was pulled in favor of right-handed pitcher Arquimedes Caminero, who retired his first two batters faced to preserve the 5-5 tie. The offense has luckily begun to pick up again (Jason Heyward in particular is making a lot more solid contact), but the defense, too, has shown cracks (including a couple of questionable judgment calls by Javy Baez today), and certainly all eyes have been on the Cubs’ pitchers.
Cardinals 5, Brewers 1: Mike Leake struck out a season-high 10 over seven innings, Matt Adams and Randal Grichuk homered, and St. Louis cooled off rookie starter Junior Guerra in Milwaukee.
Mark Melancon, the sixth Pittsburgh pitcher, got the final out for his 27th save in 28 opportunities. The poor outing boosts his ERA from 2.67 to 3.01 on the season. Warren took the loss to fall to 3-2 after allowing seven earned runs in two innings.
Pirates: Polanco (strained left hamstring) left for a pinch-runner in the seventh inning….
Bell was recalled from Indianapolis before the game and the switch-hitting 23-year-old first baseman will be used off the bench during the three-game series.
Marlins 3, Reds 1: Jose Fernandez allowed an unearned run in seven innings to lift host Miami.
Advertisement
Oh what a difference ten days makes. “You would take this kind of lead going into the break any day of the week”. The changes came after outfielders Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets and Dexter Fowler of the Cubs were injured and unable to play Tuesday.
