Cubs, Cardinals, White Sox All Claim Victories

Anthony Rizzo's sessions with Chicago Cubs assistant hitting coach Eric Hinske are starting to pay off.

Rizzo drove in four runs with his 10th career two-homer game, Jason Hammel pitched six sharp innings and the Chicago Cubs routed the Cincinnati Reds 9-0 on Sunday to improve to 14-5 for the first time in 47 years.

"It's just baseball," said Rizzo, who has eight home runs this season. "I opened my stance a little bit but nothing major. You stay with the process. The formula is there. Things will take care of themselves."

With Ben Zobrist and Dexter Fowler getting the day off, Tommy La Stella had his first homer of the season and two doubles in his first start at leadoff since 2014 with Atlanta, and Jason Heyward added four hits and 3 RBI as the Cubs rebounded from their worst loss of the season, 13-5, on Saturday.

"La Stella stays ready," manager Joe Maddon said. "He comes ready to play. We had a lot of good at-bats. It was nice that we could do this without getting Dexter or Zobrist involved. He never gets annoyed that he isn't getting playing time. He understands his role."

Despite Saturday's loss, Chicago outscored Cincinnati 38-14 in the four-game series, which started Thursday with Jake Arrieta's no-hitter in a 16-0 win.

Cardinals 8, Padres 5

Jedd Gyorko didn't mind being booed when he returned to San Diego with the St. Louis Cardinals.

After all, what better revenge than going 6 for 11 with two homers, a triple, four RBI and three runs scored in the three-game series? All that and he didn't even start the opener Friday night.

Gyorko homered, tripled and singled, and rookie Aledmys Diaz had a homer among his three hits as the Cardinals rallied to beat the Padres 8-5 on Sunday to take two of three.

"I heard it, but it is what it is," Gyorko said about the booing. "People are going to do whatever they want, so if that's what makes them happy, they can keep booing."

Gyorko was traded to the Cardinals in December for Jon Jay. A second-round pick of the Padres in 2010, he spent his first three big league seasons with San Diego, receiving a $35 million contract extension early in his second big league season.

"I think especially when he got the reception that he got, it's always nice to stick it to the team you were with before," manager Mike Matheny said. "It's pretty common in this game. You give a guy a chance to go back and play against a team that he was with and seems like it's usually a pretty good opportunity for them to do something special, and Jedd had a real nice couple days for us."

White Sox 4, Rangers 1

Mat Latos felt he could've done better. Still, it was good enough to maintain his remarkable start.

Latos pitched six solid innings and the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 4-1 Sunday to complete a sweep of the three-game series.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander, who signed a $3 million, one-year deal with Chicago in February, was charged with one run and seven hits. Latos (4-0) has allowed two earned runs in 24 1/3 innings in his four starts while matching his win total from all of last year.

"I battled today," he said. "I didn't have good fastball command, I fell behind in the count early today. I was lucky. I got away with a couple of pitches to some good guys."

Although Latos might not have been as sharp as earlier outings this season, White Sox manager Robin Ventura wasn't ready to attribute the newcomer's success to good fortune.

"Matty threw great. He continues to impress," Ventura said. "That's a tough lineup to go through."

The Rangers were swept in a series of three games or more for the first time since last July by the Angels.

Sunday, April 24 Scoreboard

Tampa Bay 8, New York Yankees 1

Toronto 6, Oakland 3

Cleveland 6, Detroit 3

Chicago Cubs 9, Cincinnat 0

New YOrk Mets 3, Atlanta 2

Washington 6, Minnesota 5 (F/16)

Chicago White Sox 4, Texas 1

Milwaukee 8, Philadelphia 5
    
Kansas City 6, Baltimore 1

Seattle 9, Los Angeles Angels 4

Miami 5, San Franscisco 4

Los Angeles Dodgers 12, Colorado 10

Pittsburgh 12, Arizona 10 (F/13)

St. Louis 8, San diego 5

Boston 7, Houston 5 (F/12)

Monday, April 25 Schedule (All Times Central)

Chicago at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Oakland at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Boston at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at New York, 6:10 p.m.

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

New York at Texas, 7 p.m.

Cleveland at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

St. Louis at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Kansas City at Los Angeles, 9:05 p.m.

Houston at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Miami at Los Angeles, 9:10 p.m.

San Diego at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.