Lester Has Strong Outing in Cubs Win

BY ESPN

Jon Lester had another strong outing and his teammates powered their way to another win.

Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Jason Heyward all homered to back Lester as the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 5-1 on Monday night.

Lester (14-4) limited the Padres to a run and five hits in six innings. He struck out eight and walked two in winning for the 10th time in his last 11 decisions.

The left-hander improved to 5-0 with six quality starts out of seven since the All-Star break.

"Game after game after game you kind of know what to expect from him right now," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "He had really good stuff tonight."

Lester was making his first regular-season appearance at Petco Park, the last active ballpark where he hadn't yet started.

"I just try to go pitch and do a good job," he said. "That's all I worry about. The main number for me that I'm always concerned about is 200 innings. If that's there, then all the other stuff is kind of gravy."

Bryant's solo shot in the fifth inning was his 32nd of the year, tying him with Colorado's Nolan Arenado for the National League lead.

Russell added his third home run in two days, and the struggling Heyward -- recently benched to rest mentally -- got his first since July 29.

"It was great for Jason to be able to do that," Cubs manager Joe Madden said. "Those are the kinds of things that can get his confidence going again and going in the right direction."

Anthony Rizzo had four hits to tie a career-high for the NL Central-leading Cubs, who have won six of their last eight games and 20 of 25.

Monday, August 22 Scoreboard

Los Angeles Dodgers 18, Cincinnati 9

Baltimore 4, Washington 3

Houston 3, Pittsburgh 1

Boston 6, Tampa Bay 2

Milwaukee 4, Colorado 2

Arizona 9, Atlanta 8

Cleveland 1, Oakland 0

Seattle 7, New York Yankees 5

Chicago Cubs 5, San Diego 1

Tuesday, August 23 Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Houston at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Texas at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

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

Philadelphia at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Colorado at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Detroit at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

New York Mets at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

Atlanta at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

New York Yankees at Seattle, 9 p.m.

Cleveland at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

San Francisco at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at San Diego, 9:10 p.m.