Overton has surrendered nine home runs in 18 1/3 innings, serving up three blasts in his last start.
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“Sometimes a guy just needs to show up and then he gets the adrenaline going on, and that was a big hit”, Maddon said. “It was out so quickly”.
The Cubs’ lineup has returned to full strength after intermittent injuries stripped the National League Central leaders from deploying their best unit for a while.
After being greeted mostly warmly by the overwhelmingly blue-clad crowd of 25,182, Lester – making his first appearance at the Coliseum since the 2014 trade that sent popular slugger Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox – proceeded to mow down the A’s batters with ruthless efficiency for the next five innings.
As if their fans needed one, a dark reminder of the A’s not-so-distant glorious past will be present Friday night when Jon Lester takes the mound at the Coliseum for the first time since 2014. (That ordinarily wouldn’t be worth mentioning, but as you know, Lester has had his troubles with that seemingly simple act in the past.) Lester finished with seven solid innings, with no walks and eight strikeouts.
“I enjoyed pitching here”.
It was certainly nice to see Soler come back with that homer. Soler missed 51 games with a strained left hamstring and played his first game for the Cubs since June 6, starting at designated hitter. Javy Baez scored Soler and Heyward with a double to make it 7-0. “But for how long he sustained just being completely unhittable, I think everybody said, ‘What’s wrong?’ when he gives up a couple runs”. “We’ve been taping it a variety of different ways to try and alleviate some of the discomfort, but that just hasn’t happened”.
Brett Eibner, acquired in the July 30 Billy Burns trade with Kansas City, was promoted from Triple-A Nashville and is in right field. Marcus Semien added an RBI single.
Overton allowed three more runs in the third inning as his ERA ballooned from an already awful 9.33 to 10.66.
The major league-leading Chicago Cubs attempt to extend their winning streak to six games when they visit the Oakland Athletics on Saturday afternoon for the middle contest of their three-game interleague set. “So is he. It’s just about going out there and stringing a few performances together that get him going in the right direction again”.
Cubs: Maddon said the plan is to ease Soler back in and get him some defensive work in the outfield before the team faces another NL team on August 11…. The 26-year-old from Nashville has lost nine of his last 11 decisions and been pounded for seven runs three times over his last six outings. Placed on the D.L. on Friday, Lowrie has been hampered by a sizable bunion on his left foot and is facing possible season-ending surgery.
Jesse Hahn, meanwhile, is hopeful that his stay on the DL will be a short one.
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Reliever Andrew Triggs also was recalled, his eighth stint with the A’s this season.
