The Cubs also don’t believe in the dog days of August, with Contreras becoming yet another energy source for the team with the best record in baseball, an 11-game winning streak and a 14-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central.
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“I would compare it to when you’re a baby and you’re in your mother’s belly and you’re listening to the heartbeat or whatever”, Hammel said. Szczur led off the game with a rolling double past first base, and then Kris Bryant doubled (+.095) to score the first of thirteen runs.
“I was awful”, said Wainwright, who called the start and the season the worst of his career. “It’s just one of those pitches that’s a big part of the game, going inside, and it just got away”.
Wainwright was pounded for seven runs in two innings in a 13-2 rout at the hands of the Chicago Cubs on Friday.
Padres 8, Mets 6: Rookie Ryan Schimpf hit a grand slam and added a two-run shot for San Diego as NY lost its sixth in seven games. “You can’t make him do it twice”. The one run he allowed came on a Stephen Piscotty solo homer in the fifth inning.
Cubs lefty Jon Lester allowed 2 runs and 5 hits with 6 strikeouts in 6 innings but lost a chance at his 13th victory when Grichuk sent a 1-0 cutter into the left-field bleachers.
Taillon (3-2) lowered his ERA to 2.85 in his first 10 major league appearances, striking out four and walking two – or one more than he had walked in his previous five starts.
The Cubs jumped on Wainwright early.
The next inning, Contreras started hopping up and down in left field after almost throwing Wainwright out at second base and nearly erasing a soft double down the line. Szczur scored on another Bryant double an inning later after getting hit by a pitch.
Reliever Mike Montgomery (4-5) hit the seven-time All-Star on a 1-1 count with two outs and nobody on in the 10th.
The only drama became whether or not the Cardinals would retaliate for Matt Holliday’s broken thumb.
“We’ve got some young talented players that are going to have to step up and get the job done”, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.
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“It happens quite a bit, so you don’t dwell on it”, Matheny said of any emotional hangover. “You’re not happy about losing any of our guys but you don’t let it carry into the next game”. In the absence of Dexter Fowler, easily the greatest catalyst for the Cubs offense, Szczur absolutely szczed the day (sorry) and involved himself in a bulk of the Cubs scoring this afternoon. RHP Trevor Cahill arrived at the Cubs clubhouse on Friday, but has not been activated from the DL after making six starts at Triple-A Iowa in a rehab stint (right knee tendinitis).
