St. Louis Cardinals players gather in dugout for a team cheer before a baseball a game between the Chicago Cubs Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
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Chicago (93-53) wasted its opportunity to clinch on its own when pinch-hitter Scooter Gennett delivered a tiebreaking, two-run double in the seventh inning for Milwaukee.
The Chicago Cubs closed in on the division title in Major League Baseball as the Detroit Tigers’ push for a wildcard continued.
The Milwaukee Brewers played spoiler – for a couple hours anyway – and prevented the Cubs from wrapping up the title before a sellout crowd at Wrigley Field on Thursday night with a 5-4 victory.
Up in the Wrigley Field press box, you could hear the auto horns and cheering throughout the neighborhood once San Francisco’s 6-2 victory over St. Louis went final.
It’s only the fourth time the Cubs have reached the postseason in consecutive seasons.
A potential dream division clinching scenario didn’t quite pan out the way that Cubs fans might have wanted on Thursday evening.
Despite the added police presence and parking restrictions outside Wrigley Field Thursday for the Cubs’ possible playoff clincher, officials say they’ll be treating the event as a normal game. It is the sixth time the Cubs have won a division since it was introduced during the 1969 season.
Some want the Cardinals to win tonight so the Cubs can “win” the division. The Cubs’ magic number remained at one, though they could win the divisional crown later in the night should the Cardinals lose.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon said he has no concerns whether Lackey is fully recovered from his shoulder issues.
The path to the playoffs is about to get a lot tougher for the Yankees. This group, including Carl Edwards Jr. and Justin Grimm, has been excellent in late August and September, but October takes another level of performance to retire a club’s best.
The Mets also enjoy a favorable schedule down the stretch with 13 dates against losing teams, including Minnesota, Atlanta and Philadelphia, leaving them poised to defend the NL pennant in October. But before they can get to the others, there’s more than two weeks left in the regular season. He allowed just the two runs on five hits and a walk with seven strikeouts, throwing 105 pitches. The star second baseman began the night leading the league in hitting with a.340 average to go with 24 home runs, 94 RBIs, 27 stolen bases and 99 runs.
“It was just a flat-out good ballgame”, Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. They got in as a wild card previous year and made it to the NL Championship Series before they were swept by the New York Mets.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play”, Gennett said.
Right-hander Kyle Hendricks (15-7, 2.03) who pitched eight no-hit innings in his last outing, pitches Sunday against righty Wily Peralta (6-10, 5.42).
Hector Santiago (12-8) got the win, holding the Tigers to one run in 5 2/3 innings.
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“It would have been wonderful to do that for the fans right there”, Maddon said. Two of the home runs were off the bat of Andrew McCutchen, and Jordy Mercer’s three-run blast in the seventh inning broke open what had been a one-run Pittsburgh lead before the Pirates made it a laugher in the ninth.
