Pittsburgh has dropped the first two contests of the series following an eight-game road winning streak and is 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second NL wild card.
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“He has to be in Cy Young contention”, Maddon said.
The Pirates led, 6-3, until the bottom of the eighth, when Willison Contreras homered to center with Heyward aboard bringing the Cubs within a run.
In 110 Triple-A games this season, Hanson has batted.266 with 15 doubles, seven triples, eight home runs, 32 RBIs and 36 stolen bases. The two-run shot to left off Cubs starter Jake Arrieta scored Harrison and Josh Bell to give Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead.
“Nothing to hang our heads about”, Harrison said.
The magical feeling continues to build at Wrigley Field, where the Chicago Cubs aim for their sixth straight home victory when they continue their three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday. “We went out there and gave it everything we had. We just came up short”. Kuhl also walked two and struck out five in his five innings of work.
Jayson Werth hit a solo homer for the Nationals in the first inning against his former team.
But in the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s win, Montero fired a rocket to Javy Baez, who expertly placed the tag to nab Starling Marte at second base. The 29-year-old former college All-American and NFL quarterback ran a 60-yard dash, threw, caught flies and grounders in the outfield, took standard batting practice and then faced two pitchers with big league experience in live batting practice. It’s unfortunate that the Pirates just don’t have the pitchers to match up with the Cubs, outside of maybe Jameson Taillon.
Indians 5, Twins 4: Rajai Davis hit a three-run homer as Cleveland extended Minnesota’s losing streak to 12.
The radar readings don’t matter as much when Hendricks can pinpoint two- and four-seam fastballs while dropping curveballs that play off his changeup, neutralizing hitters to the point where entire opposing lineups become very-good-hitting pitchers (.205 average/.581 OPS). In his lone start against Chicago, he allowed four runs in 2 1/3 innings and had a no-decision in the Pirates’ 6-5 loss before the All-Star break.
Cubs: RHP Pedro Strop (left meniscus tear) is throwing again, and RHP Hector Rondon (right triceps strain) also is “making great progress”, according to Maddon. RHP John Lackey (right shoulder strain) threw a side session.
Anthony Rizzo smacked a two-run homer off Chad Kuhl in the first inning, which was enough for the Cubs on its own. In his last 17 total starts, Hendricks has a 1.70 ERA, giving up three or fewer earned runs in every one of those games.
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Cole had a 6.08 ERA in five August starts and said he alerted the team of a level of discomfort that was concerning after allowing five runs and seven hits in five innings last Wednesday against Houston.
