It was a familiar feeling for Jeff Samardzija.
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Russell hit a two-run single with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, and three relievers combined for five ideal innings to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night.
The Cubs beat the Pirates, 6-5, in Chicago on Wednesday, completing a three-game sweep.
Samardzija, who pitched for the Cubs from 2008-14, gave up three first inning runs and then settled down through his pitch-heavy but otherwise scoreless four-inning effort. But all that did was magnify the trouble hitting the other side.
The Cubs (86-47) won their fourth straight and extended their National League Central lead to 15 1/2 games. But for much of his time in Chicago, he played for a losing team that finally experienced a huge payoff for a painful rebuild after it traded him away.
The Giants have really taken a swan dive since the all-star break and while they are likely to still slip into the playoffs thanks to a great start to the season they haven’t looked the part of World Series contender over the last couple of months and will need to break out of this funk if they’re going to do anything come playoff time. “As a major league baseball player, his confidence could not be higher”.
Addison Russell had two RBIs and an outstanding sliding catch as Chicago equaled the best August in franchise history with a 22-6 record, also accomplished in 1932.
Fowler advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Kris Bryant’s well placed single.
Kris Bryant continued his now 13-game hit streak last night with a home run and a single. The Cubs could use a strong performance from Lester to provide a break for an overtaxed bullpen that turned in five ideal innings on Thursday. He is 8 for 18 and has driven in 23 runs with the bases loaded. On top of that, he is playing a Gold Glove-level defence.
His go-ahead hit wiped out a 4-3 deficit and capped a rally that began when Hunter Strickland (3-2) gave up a leadoff single to Fowler and walked Bryant after two close pitches were called balls. Bochy tabbed left-hander Will Smith, who recorded a strikeout and a pop-up on lefty hitters Anthony Rizzo and Jason Heyward, sandwiched around a walk to Ben Zobrist. He threw three wild pitches and yielded Francisco Cervelli’s two-out RBI single before striking out Mercer with two on with his 11th pitch of the at-bat. It’s just frustrating because you want to get the result no matter what. “As a pitcher, you can only do so much”.
The Giants could not hold two leads in a 5-4 loss to the relentless Chicago Cubs on Thursday, and as he stood at his locker in a cramped visiting clubhouse, Hunter Pence did what you might expect him to do.
Carl Edwards Jr. worked the ninth for his first career save with Aroldis Chapman getting the night off after pitching in the previous three games. The right-hander threw seven solid innings in a 7-0 win over Atlanta last time out.
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Mike Montgomery allowed three runs (all earned) in 5.0 innings against the Dodgers on Friday, but got a no-decision after the Cubs staged a late-inning rally and won in extra innings.
