I mean really? Swisher came into the game hitting.190/.259/.310) and when he got himself into trouble in the fifth, Joe Maddon didn’t hesitate to yank him for Travis Wood, although the Cubs actually still had a 3-2 lead at the time (thanks primarily to Anthony Rizzo, who drove in a run in the first with a groundout and hit his 25th homer in the third), but with runners on second and third with one out.
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More importantly, the Cubs maintained their distance in the wild card chase thanks to a 3-for-4 effort from Kris Bryant with two homers, four runs and three RBIs. “You go out there (in BP) and a lot of us try to hit it out every time, and sometimes that can be counterproductive”.
Ryan Lavarnway homered and Nick Swisher had a pair of RBI singles for the Braves. Atlanta has lost nine straight on the road, its longest such skid since dropping 10 in a row in 1996.
The woman was carried off on a stretcher and taken to a hospital.
Several fans around the majors have been hit this season by fouls and flying bats, and Major League Baseball has said it is studying the issue of crowd safety. Don’t turn your head away from the action. Bryant was then hit by a pitch before Miguel Montero blasted a three-run home run to put the Cubs up 7-0. Rizzo’s 24th home run of the campaign was a three-run shot down the right field line while Russell clubbed a solo bomb later on – his eighth big league homer. He also contributed an RBI single.
Jason Motte (8-1) earned the win in relief, starting a string of four innings during which Cubs relievers didn’t allow a hit until pinch-hitter Nick Swisher doubled with one out in the ninth off of closer Hector Rondon.
The rookie allowed a career-high four home runs in 2 2-3 innings – his shortest outing – after giving up eight in his previous 62 innings.
“It wasn’t anything insane, but you can’t argue balls and strikes”, Gonzalez said, “so I got to watch the rest of the game on TV”. “Everything was working, so I know he’s leaving the ballpark today feeling pretty good about himself”. “I have to figure out how to pitch to lefties up here”.
The Cubs search their fourth Four-game sweep of the season once they host the Braves Sunday at Wrigley Subject.
The Cubs are now two wins away from matching their 2014 victory total and are on pace for 94 wins.
One of the reasons for the 3:05 Friday starts is that the Cubs are prohibited by ordinance from playing Friday night games. “It was really a stellar offensive performance for the last couple of days”, Maddon said.
Bryant clubbed his second homer of the game on a full count to lead off the Cubs sixth and open a 9-2 lead.
The fan was sitting a few rows from the field in a section just past the first-base dugout and camera well, where seats were added several years ago.
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“Things started to come together and we started doing a little better job”, Montero said. The Cubs have seen an uptick in scoring as of late, averaging 5.9 runs during the last 10 games compared to their season average of 4.1 runs per game.
