METS 3, NATIONALS 1: Curtis Granderson and former Ray James Loney came through with big hits to back rookie Robert Gsellman as host NY rebounded from consecutive losses and won for the 10th time in 14 games, moving within one game of the Cardinals for the final NL wild card.
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Pedro Alvarez and Chris Davis hit two-run homers in the second inning and Manny Machado added a two-run shot in the fourth for Baltimore, which leads the majors with 213 home runs.
The Cubs had one last chance when pinch hitter Anthony Rizzo led off the ninth with a walk against Will Smith. He threw to Crawford, who reached behind his back while making a tag to complete a rally-killing double play.
He struck out 10 in six innings to outduel defending NL Cy Young Award victor Jake Arrieta, the Giants hustled to support him, and their bullpen made the pitches under duress to protect a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Saturday. David Price won his fifth consecutive start by yielding two runs and four hits over seven innings.
The National League-leading Cubs were staring at a second straight loss when Russell led off the ninth with a double against Santiago Casilla.
Nobody is writing off a team with the Giants” pedigree, and they have some work to do if they’re to sustain the even-year magic that delivered World Series trophies to San Francisco in 2010, “12 and ’14. “We plan on being there, too”. It’s a really, really rough way to lose a game that had playoff-type intensity, and you could tell that by the fact that nearly no one in the sellout of 41,250 left early. But they are just 16-29 since that point, leaving them looking up at the Dodgers and clinging to the top spot in the wild-card race.
“We were getting some things going but the boys needed a break and have one of those hard-hit balls fall in”, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. He struck out seven, walked two and threw two wild pitches, including one that allowed a run to score. Bumgarner made his case Saturday by striking out 10 batters in six innings while allowing just two runs to improve to 14-8 with a 2.51 ERA on the season. The Cubs had won five in a row overall.
“Confidence starts showing up and then all of a sudden, you become more on time, the ball gets a little bit bigger”, Maddon said.
“Rizzo is trying to be aggressive there”, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “Just gotta keep being a part of the game, keep doing what you can to help”. That’s very similar to a playoff situation.
Chicago also had an opportunity in the sixth, but Bumgarner struck out Matt Szczur for the third time with two on. The lead held up through a bases-loaded jam in the seventh when Addison Russell lined out to right.
The Cubs entered with a 16 1/2-game lead in the NL Central thanks to a number of tremendous defensive plays in the past week.
Over the two games, they failed to register a hit in 12 consecutive innings – something that hadn’t happened to them since June 26-27, 1980. Javier Baez singled, stole second and scored on Arrieta’s infield single.
Angel Pagan doubled and scored on the error by La Stella, who was a late addition after Jorge Soler was scratched with an ingrown toenail. He hit a one-out single and stole second base despite hitting the dirt with all the grace of a pencil eraser rubbing against a sheet of loose leaf. Manager Bruce Bochy said he expects Law to be at full strength when his 15 days on the disabled list end on September 12.
Cubs: Setup man Hector Rondon (triceps) could come off the disabled list as soon as Monday. They’ve had their backs against the wall and been through hard times, but they’re going to keep fighting.
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After the San Francisco Giants dropped three out of four at Wrigley Field, Johnny Cueto was eager to face the Chicago Cubs again. He went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Heyward’s single up the middle to hand Casilla his seventh blown save.
