Ramos (1-1) threw a wild pitch to allow Matt Szczur to score the winning run from third base.
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Phillies 5, Giants 4 • Maikel Franco drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th for Philadelphia. The Cubs have walked 41 more times than any other team in baseball, and they rank second to the Boston Red Sox with a.346 team on-base percentage.
The headline-grabbing words came after the Cubs won their 66th game of the season in improbably fashion, beating the Marlins, 5-4, with a walk-off wild pitch in a three-run bottom of the ninth inning at Wrigley Field.
Ben Zobrist drew a bases-loaded walk with two out to tie the score. “We have a group that fights until the last out”. “We got a couple off Strop and just couldn’t get another”. “All those different mental factors, and our fans picked us up”. By this time Ramos had thrown 33 pitches, the most he had thrown in any appearance this season.
Miguel Montero led off with a double to right and went to third on Javier Baez’s single.
Orioles 3, Rangers 2 – At Baltimore: Kevin Gausman outpitched Cole Hamels, and Baltimore rode a three-run first inning to a victory over Texas.
Kris Bryant struck out looking on a 3-2 pitch for the second out, and Anthony Rizzo was intentionally walked to load the bases again.
Zobrist’s sacrifice succeeded in moving runners to second and third, but Willson Contreras struck out and Jason Heyward grounded to short to strand the tying run. But I couldn’t get it in the zone where I wanted to.
“With Zobrist, he’s not going to swing (just) to swing”, Montero said.
Especially when the Cubs failed to add on to the run they scored in the eighth after Zobrist’s bunt on a 3-2 pitch, which he said he felt more comfortable doing than taking his chances on hitting a Fernando Rodney changeup he had trouble seeing.
Miami OF Ichiro Suzuki struck out as a pinch-hitter Tuesday and remains two hits shy of 3,000 in his major-league career. Travis Wood replaced him and Chris Coghlan’s diving catch of Christian Yelich’s looping liner to left field with two on ended the threat.
Mathis’ drive snapped a 1-all tie in the seventh and was just the second of the season for the backup catcher.
Manager Joe Maddon’s move to give his starting rotation an extra day off has paid off as Chicago Cubs starting pitchers have worked 15 straight scoreless innings in the past two games.
The win was the Cubs’ sixth in their last seven games and extended their National League Central lead to nine games over St. Louis.
The Marlins (57-51) appeared on track for a win after Mathis clubbed a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh while starter Tom Koehler allowed just one run on five hits.
Then Chapman entered and used his blazing fastball to strike out one and earn his second save in three tries since being acquired from the Yankees.
“Fair expectations?” Lackey replied. “We’re trying to win the World Series”. “I didn’t come here for a haircut, you know what I mean? I came here for the jewelry”.
Marlins: 1B Justin Bour, out since July 3 with a right ankle sprain, is expected to return Friday at Colorado.
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Combine all this with a gorgeous, sunny (although a bit hot, almost 90 degrees) afternoon at Wrigley Field, and that makes for a ideal baseball day.
