The pitching matchup will feature Cleveland ace Corey Kluber versus big-money free agent acquisition Jon Lester of Chicago.
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Kris Bryant homered with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the surging Chicago Cubs to a 2-1 victory over the Indians on Monday in a makeup of a rain out from June 15.
The rookie, who had homered twice Sunday, lined a pitch from Cleveland reliever Zach McAllister (3-4) into the right field bleachers to give Chicago its fifth straight win and 21st victory in 26 games.
Wright, absent the previous 115 games due to hamstring and back injuries, went 2-for-5 but committed two errors.
Left-handed pitcher J.A. Happ is thriving with his new team. “For Kyle, we all know he”s a great player, and he”ll get out of it. Everyone has those days, and (the slump) was great for me.”.
“Of course you”d like to see him play a little more,” manager Joe Maddon said.
“It’s something I had the privilege of having when I managed the Rays, ” Maddon said of a designated speed guy/pinch runner.
He was relieved by Hector Rondon (5-2) with two outs in the ninth after scattering six hits and striking out six.
“I”m looking at it as if one of these guys goes down again, I”ll have to do it,” Schwarber said. “If we pitch it well and catch it well… we could get to the playoffs and advance”.
“Their guy (Miller) was really good”. Lester is Eight-1 lifetime towards the Indians.
This led to Lester’s removal from the game, blowing both the shutout and the win.
“There was absolutely zero wiggle room and he just went toe to toe and pitched about as good as you can”.
The remainder of this 2015 season for the Indians, however, is all about 2016 and just enjoying the game, one at a time.
Lester nearly matched Kluber through the first seven, facing only 22 Cleveland hitters. The game is scheduled for a 2:05 p.m. start time and it will be televised live in both markets.
Lester had won four straight decisions in five starts before lasting only 2 2/3 innings against Detroit on Wednesday, when he gave up seven runs on seven hits in a 15-8 loss. Hammel gave up two runs on six hits, walked one and struck out eight while throwing 105 pitches, 70 for strikes.
Anthony Rizzo added an RBI single in the seventh for Chicago, which rallied after the Braves pulled ahead 3-1 in the fourth. The drive was originally called a home run but was overturned following video review.
Cubs dealt tough blow as Jorge Soler, Jason Motte end up on DL].
The Cubs recalled infielder Tommy La Stella and lefty Zac Rosscup from Triple-A Iowa in time for the contest.
Shortstop Addison Russell was out of the starting lineup for the second consecutive game after taking a brief leave for the birth of his son.
Anyway, the game was cruising right along and even looked like it might come in at just over 2 hours because the Cubs had a 1-0 lead going into the top of the 9th at about 3:00.
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The Cincinnati Reds clawed their way to a 12-5 victory over the Tigers on Monday, scoring 10 runs during the sixth inning, which saw them down five to start.
