Wong Guides Cardinals To Victory, Cubs Lose

Kolten Wong keeps causing trouble for the Washington Nationals. Wong homered and drove in the tiebreaking run with a double in the eighth inning to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-5 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.

Wong finished 3 for 4 for the second straight night. He hit a two-run homer in the second inning and the tie-breaking double gave him three RBIs. He also made two spectacular plays at second base and a third good one, helping St. Louis on offense and defense.

Pirates 4, Cubs 3

Tony Watson had a save that was reminiscent of bygone days. The Pirates' left-hander inherited a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning and got the final six outs Wednesday night for his first save of the season and fifth of his five-year career as Pittsburgh held off the Chicago Cubs 4-3.

Gregory Polanco hit his first home run of the season and Vance Worley (2-1) got through 5 2/3 shaky innings for his second straight win. Multi-inning saves are rare with today's specialized bullpens. However, the Pirates needed Watson to pitch two innings because closer Mark Melancon was not available after throwing 25 pitches in a loss the previous night.

White Sox 6, Indians 0

Jeff Samardzija wound up in the win column for the first time with the Chicago White Sox, helped by a couple of big swings Jose Abreu took against Corey Kluber. Samardzija threw six shutout innings as the White Sox trounced the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner and the Cleveland Indians 6-0 on Wednesday.

Samardzija (1-1) had been winless in his first three starts for the White Sox. The 30-year-old righty from nearby Merrillville, Indiana, allowed six hits, walked two and struck out three.

"You get new teammates and you want to make sure you prove your worth to them," said Samardzija, acquired in a trade with Oakland in December. "They gave me an early run, early two runs. That's a big cushion to have and that allowed me to go out and pound the zone with what I thought was subpar stuff," he said.

Wednesday, April 22 Scoreboard

Chicago White Sox 6, Cleveland 0

St. Louis 7, Washington 5

Miami 6, Philadelphia 1

Pittsburgh 4, Chicago Cubs 3

Toronto 4, Baltimore 2

New York Yankees 13, Detroit 4

New York Mets 13, Detroit 4

Tamba Bay 7, Boston 5

Minnesota 3, Kansas City 0

Cincinnati 2, Milwaukee 1

Colorado 5, San Diego 4

Arizona 8, Texas 5

Oakland 9, Los Angeles Angels 2

Seattle 3, Houston 2

San Francisco 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 2

Thursday, April 23 Schedule (All Times Central)

Chicago at Pittsburgh, 11:35 a.m.

Miami at Philadelphia, 12:05 p.m.

New York Yankees at Detroit, 12:8

Atlanta at New York Mets, 12:10 pm.

Cincinnati at Milwaukee, 12:40 p.m.

San Diego at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco, 2:45 p.m.

St. Louis at Washington, 3:05 p.m.

Oakland at Los Angeles Angels, 6:05 p.m.

Baltimore at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Boston at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Chicago, 7:10 p.m.