Beating a nondescript Brewers team four times in nearly a 48-hour window doesn’t say all that much about the Cubs, who have drained all the suspense from the division race, running away from the St. Louis Cardinals (13 games back) and Pittsburgh Pirates (14) while going 24-8 since the All-Star break and pushing their run differential to plus-209. Jake Arrieta, aiming for his 15 victory, has allowed only one walk through the first three innings. He retired 15 of the first 16 batters.
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Veteran reliever Travis Wood would come into the game in the 9th and finish it off to secure the Cubs third victory in a row, after sweeping the Brew Crew in a doubleheader yesterday afternoon. By the time his final plate appearance came up in the eighth inning, Bryant wasn’t thinking about a triple – or the cycle – he was going for something bigger.
Soler, who hit a three-run home run to lead Chicago to a 6-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night, has hit seven home runs in seven starts since coming off the disabled list in early August.
“When he gets into a groove, he runs through the lineup pretty good”, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said recently. “We try to go out there every night and put up a good product and try to win”. The Cubs improved the best record in the majors to 77-43. “It’s not a day that we got a lot of hits, but the walks made a difference against him. Obviously, Bryant had a great day”. La Stella, 27, was hitting.295 in 51 games for the Cubs this season before the demotion.
Broxton had reached on a single and stole two bases.The big blow in the five-run first was Jorge Soler’s ninth home run of the year.
Bryant hit his second homer off Blaine Boyer in the sixth.
“It was one of those days that went by too quick”, Bryant said.
PHILLIES 5, DODGERS 4: Maikel Franco hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning and Philadelphia held off Los Angeles. He has 78 RBIs.
“He’s one of the best hitters in the game”.
“I’m supposed to be a groundball pitcher, so that shouldn’t make a difference to me”, he said of the wind. “He’s got to finish the at-bat off”.
Rizzo doubled twice off Davies, who allowed a season-high 7 earned runs and 10 hits in 4 innings.
The Cubs jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first on a grounder by Ben Zobrist and two-out single by Addison Russell.
Milwaukee was outscored 23-8 in the series and fell to 0-6 at Wrigley Field.
Cubs starters have allowed two or fewer runs in 12 consecutive games, the longest single-season streak in team history.
Arrieta’s rebound comes at a time when the whole starting staff is performing well. The 24-year-old rookie has moved ahead of struggling veteran Miguel Montero. He also had two passed balls. Davies is 2-0 with a 0.73 ERA and eight strikeouts in his career against the Cubs. “He has earned the shot to do it”, Counsell said. He is scheduled to oppose LHP Wade LeBlanc (2-0, 4.68 ERA).
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Coverage of Wednesday night’s Game 3 begins at 6:30 P.M. on 620 WTMJ.
