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After humbling rival Cardinals, Cubs eager to concentrate on big prize

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jon Lester fired eight shutout innings Wednesday in the Cubs’ 7-0 shutout of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs (93-52) clinched at least a tie for the division title and can pop the champagne Thursday night with a victory over Milwaukee at Wrigley Field.

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St. Louis Cardinals’ Kolten Wong drops his helmet after grounding out to end the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016, in St. Louis. The three hits were all singles.

“We’ve got to figure out ways to grind through at-bats”.

“This whole run he has been on is as good as I’ve seen him”, Ross said. “That’s the type of team we can be and then we can jump up and surprise some people with the long ball”. The Phillies got home runs from Freddy Galvis and Tommy Joseph, and rookie Jake Thompson provided six strong innings on the mound.

Brandon Moss decided the best way to work out of his slump was to go to the tape.

“It’s not a good feeling when you’re not playing every day”, Peralta said.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Madison Bumgarner missed a chance at his milestone 100th career win and San Francisco wasted another chance for a potential push in the NL West, losing to San Diego to be swept by the division’s second-to-last-place club.

Both the Giants and Mets lost their games on Wednesday, so the Giants have a one game lead over the Cardinals for the NL Wild Card lead. The Cards’ broadcasters gave some inadvertent insight into this mindset: immediately after Aledmys Diaz was thrown out trying to steal second, on a bounced throw from Ross no less, they told viewers that Diaz was now four for eight in steal attempts but stressed that they liked the move anyway because runners can get such a big lead on Lester. Ever since he was acquired in a trade with Seattle earlier this season, he has given the Cubs a tremendous weapon as a sixth starter and has likely saved a lot of wear and tear on a pitching staff that ended up breaking down late in the 2015 postseason. Five of his nine strikeouts came on called third strikes.

“He came out of the gates really as good as we’ve seen him”. It feels really good to look back on that consistency. Lester has allowed one run or less in each of his last five starts. In upping his record to 17-4, Lester walked one, struck out eight and faced just two batters over the minimum.

Toronto remains two games behind the Red Sox after Alexei Ramirez launched a three-run homer and Steven Souza Jr. hit a solo blast in Tampa Bay’s 6-2 triumph over the Blue Jays. Adrian Beltre reached the 30-home run mark for the fifth time in his career with a blast that cleared the Crawford Boxes. Catcher David Ross’s two-run homer and Kris Bryant’s RBI triple filled out the rest of Chicago’s runs.

“We want to do well here and I think trying to right the ship here we’re putting a little too much pressure on us”, Moss said. Cardinals RHP Trevor Rosenthal (right shoulder inflammation) threw live batting practice Tuesday and could be activated later this week.

Montgomery will be opposed by Jimmy Nelson, who has a 7-14 record this season.

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Chicago’s homestand includes four games with Milwaukee, three with Cincinnati and three against St. Louis. RHP Johnny Cueto (15-5, 2.90) will start for the Giants.

Anthony Rizzo hits a solo home run in the sixth Wednesday the first of two homers. He reached 30 homers for the third straight year and 100 RBIs for the second