GIANTS 6, PIRATES 4: In Pittsburgh, Madison Bumgarner homered in his second straight start and struck out six in 61/3 innings to lead San Francisco.
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“Long time coming I guess”, he said. But as he has distanced himself from the major surgery, he has provided some indication that he might be a more consistent power source during the next few seasons. “It was the first time I felt like me in a while”. They allowed 12 in four games against the Chicago Cubs.
The Braves will try to avoid the sweep on Sunday when Matt Wisler squares off against Chicago’s Jason Hammel. Give me the Cubs to win by at least two runs.
Complicating matters is that the Cubs and their soldiers of fortune known as the bullpen don’t have an off day until September 3, which will conclude a stretch of 16 straight days with games. Hard luck Braves right-hander Shelby Miller (5-10) worked 6 1/3 innings, took the loss and has now gone 17 consecutive starts without a victory. He is now winless in his last five starts.
“Hopefully that’s something we can work our way through”, he said. I gave up seven in the first three innings. “It’s been going on for several years now”, Maddon said.
“Pay attention. I hate to say, but those are wonderful seats”. Dexter Fowler had three hits for the Cubs and scored a pair of runs. “We decided on four homers”. The first-pitch shot also scored first baseman Anthony Rizzo for a 3-0 Cubs lead.
Hendricks (6-5, 4.03 ERA) was hoping to redeem himself after a short outing against the Chicago White Sox this past weekend but was unable to put himself in line for his seventh win.
After Pedro Strop threw a scoreless eighth, Jackson came out again, and Miguel Montero, who as the Cubs’ primary catcher probably knows Jackson’s stuff better than anyone, led off the inning. He allowed three home runs and seven earned runs in a loss to the Tigers on Tuesday. Catching has to be factored in to make sure that you’re covered in all these areas.
“I just thought, if (the Braves) hit the ball in the air, there’s a good chance it’s going out to the left side, and it could happen for you also”, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.
Swisher homered twice, once from each side of the plate and finished with four RBIs in the game.
“I’m just trying to go up there and have good at-bats”, Markakis said.
The Braves pushed across one run in the seventh as Swisher picked up his second RBI with a two-out single that drove in Maybin to make it 9-3. So as a bunch of youngsters who have never experienced the playoff chase before embark on the final 42 games of the regular season, are they feeling the pressure?
The Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs end their four-game series Sunday.
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This time, home runs hurt them. Chicago hosts Cleveland in a makeup game at 1:05 p.m. on Monday and then departs on a six-game West Coast trip….
