The White Sox (7-2) won their fourth in a row, extending their best start since an 8-1 run in 1982 – and they’re 6-1 on the road.
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Schebler led off the seventh with a triple and then scored on Ivan De Jesus Jr.’s groundout for the Reds’ second run of the game. – Brandon Finnegan is through six hitless innings for the Cincinnati Reds against the Cubs in Chicago’s home opener.
John Lackey is grateful for this Chicago Cubs offensive juggernaut. NOTES: The Rockies are on the road for the second time this season with the start of the three-game weekend series in Chicago. Regardless, I’m going to side with the Cubs by two runs, as it’s tough to bet against the best pitcher in baseball with the way he’s pitching.
The Reds (5-4) suffered their third straight loss and were swept by the Cubs at Wrigley Field for the first time since September 2014. Kris Bryant, however, was charged with two legit miscues – one throwing – and nearly made a third on a throw to first.
Chicago leads the majors with 48 walks and has outscored its opponents 56-20 during its impressive start. “We were not chasing out of the zone up and down the lineup”.
For a moment, it looked like Thursday’s narrative at Wrigley Field would revolve around Chicago Cubs starter Jason Hammel. He struck out seven and walked three, rebounding nicely from a shaky start at Arizona last Thursday. “At lot of times with power guys (like Bryant), it sometimes comes in bunches and all of a sudden they get that feel and take off”, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. A leadoff single from Addison Russell began the inning, and he scored when Jason Hammel himself (#KillTheDH) doubled over Bruce’s head in RF. Lackey left with two out in favor of right-handed reliever Trevor Cahill after giving up two earned runs on six hits, walking three and striking out seven. His previous shortest start was four outs for Baltimore at Texas on April 14, 2009. “It went up. I tried to throw strikes so hard”, Simon said.
Bryant gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second with his one-out homer to left.
The last undefeated team in the major leagues this season lost Wednesday night as the Orioles took their first defeat, falling 4-2 to the Red Sox at Fenway Park to drop their record on the young season to 7-1.
Facing off against Hammel tonight for the Cincinnati Reds (5-3) is 26-year-old right-hander Raisel Iglesias (1-0, 2.31 ERA). I felt bad obviously the way things panned out past year.
Maddon has mixed up his lineup and order a fair amount so far, with only right fielder Jason Heyward and first baseman Anthony Rizzo in the same spot in the order and on the field in all nine starts. Price said they got “a little banged up” in Monday’s loss to the Cubs…. He could rejoin the team by the end of the week.
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“Obviously, the walks – that’s something I’ve got to cut back on”, Hammel said. The offense figured to be pretty good, but we couldn’t be sure about Hammel. Kyle Schwarber’s season ending injury or rather injuries to both his anterior cruciate ligament and lateral collateral ligament has Cubbie fans wondering what the franchise has to do to snap the slide. “Why is this facility so important?” “This is a flawless example of why”, he said.
