Zobrist is doing his part for the best team in baseball and finds himself right in the middle of it all.
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“Anytime you start feeling good at the plate, it makes the game a lot more fun, especially with a nice warm day and the wind blowing out, ” Zobrist said.
Zobrist hit a two-run single in the fourth and a two-run homer in the eighth, helping the Cubs improve their major league-best record to 21-6 for their best start since they were 23-4 in 1907. The Washington Nationals pitching is the main reason why they lead the National League East. The starting pitcher Tanner Roark is pleasant surprise, but young righty will have to be on his game against the best hurler in the league. Solis then entered and gave up a two-run single to pinch hitter Ryan Kalish as Jorge Soler and Russell scored for a 5-4 Cubs lead.Gonzalez finished with an even 100 pitches while allowing five runs on seven hits.
Hector Rondon pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save in as many chances. The Nationals began the day at 19-9, the second-best mark in baseball.
“It’s a good sign”, Zobrist said after the game. “I wasn’t able to contain the lefties in their lineup”. Lackey has never had 200 strikeouts in a season, but did have 199 in 2005.
“I felt great, threw the ball pretty well, was locating pretty much everything, ” Lackey said. 074 against him with runners in scoring position so far this year, and this was a trend that just wasn’t going to last. He surrendered 10 in 2014 when he pitched for Detroit against Kansas City. Got as close as I could and put my glove out and (the ball) nicked off it. Things happen.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Jung Ho Kang homered twice as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2, while Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants survived a shaky second inning to beat the Colorado Rockies 6-4 to take the division lead. Daniel Murphy has been equally hot for the Nationals, collecting four hits in two of the past three games.
Bryant hit his fifth homer of the season, connecting in the fourth off Gio Gonzalez.
When manager Dusty Baker’s challenge failed, Rizzo became the quickest Cub to 10 home runs since Alfonso Soriano in 2011.
“I saw it fair, said Rizzo, who teased injured Cubs teammate Kyle Schwarber that it was one of his “Schwarbombs”. On April 26, Russell delivered late again, breaking a 1-all tie against the Brewers with a two-run triple in the sixth inning en route to an eventual Cubs win.
Indians 7, Royals 1: Jose Ramirez got three hits and drove in a career-high five runs.
Cano, who has at least two hits in five straight games, also drove in a run in the third inning to give him four RBIs and an American League-leading 30 this season. Over their past 10 games, Chicago’s offense has been playing lights out, averaging 0.0 runs per game, well over their season average of 0.0. That included a two-homer performance in Friday’s 8-6 victory against the Washington Nationals, with both coming against Max Scherzer.
Javier Baez homered in the 13th inning as the Cubs beat the Nationals 4-3 on Sunday.
Astros 6, Mariners 3 – Carlos Correa hit a solo homer off Seattle’s Taijuan Walker (2-2) and followed a two-run homer by Marwin Gonzalez in the second with an RBI single in the fifth off to power host Houston.
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Zobrist connected for his third homer and Addison Russell added an RBI double in the eighth, providing some valuable breathing room.
