Hendricks, 26, relied on his finesse and pinpoint control to pitch eight no-hit innings before Jeremy Hazelbaker homered leading off the ninth to barely dim a 4-1 victory over the rival Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
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Kyle Hendricks carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning and the Chicago Cubs dropped their magic number to five for winning the NL Central by beating the second-place Cardinals, 4-1 in St. Louis Monday night. Despite this success, Hazelbaker was no easy out for Hendricks, as he entered the game hitting.248/.327/.503 against right-handed pitchers this season, including nine of his eleven home runs.
With the lowest ERA in baseball at 2.03, Hendricks now sits at 15-7 with a sub-1.00 WHIP.
Latos had a solid first start with the Nationals, but left the game with one out in the fifth inning when he appeared to injure his right leg.
Ben Zobrist and Dexter Fowler homered to support Hendricks, who is 15-7 with a major league-leading 2.03 ERA.
Joe Maddon had his guys go out to the mound to kill some time to let Chapman throw a few more warm-up pitches, but apparently umpire Joe West wasn’t having it.
The occasion marked the third time that Maddon has been ejected from a game this season, but after he was tossed, the manager made sure to get his money’s worth.
BLUE JAYS 3, RAYS 2 Visiting Tampa Bay and Toronto cleared the benches and bullpens after the Blue Jays wrapped up a victory, ending the skirmish without throwing any punches.
In Phoenix, Yasmany Tomas hit his first career grand slam and finished with four hits for Arizona, which overcame a three-run deficit after squandering a five-run lead to beat Colorado.
– Avisail Garcia and Adam Eaton led the White Sox to an 11-4 win against the Indians.
Toronto is the top wild-card team in the American League, one game ahead of Baltimore. Ortiz connected for the AL East leaders against Baltimore.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Khris Davis and Marcus Semien hit three-run homers, the Athletics matched a season high with 17 hits while drawing 10 walks, and Oakland trounced Kansas City. NY lost 8-1 at Washington.
Hazelbaker’s drive trimmed Chicago’s lead to 4-1.
Padres 4, Giants 0: Paul Clemens fought through flu-like symptoms to combine with five relievers on a five-hit shutout.
Scott Schebler hit a two-run single in a three-run first that gave Cincinnati a 3-0 win against Milwaukee.
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Kansas City remained four games behind for the second AL wild-card spot. This angered Maddon, who screamed at West and was kicked out. With one out and runners on the corners, Rizzo lined a Leake pitch into right field for a base hit, scoring Fowler, and giving the Cubs a 2-0 lead. In the same game, Ian Kinsler launched his seventh leadoff home run of the year, tying a team record set by Curtis Granderson (2007, 2009).
