Martinez Pitches Cards to Win, Cubs Down Padres

By ESPN

Randal Grichuk and the St. Louis Cardinals love when Carlos Martinez pitches.

Martinez allowed one run over eight innings and Grichuk, Matt Carpenter and Stephen Piscotty all homered off Mets starter Jacob deGrom, powering the Cardinals past New York 8-1 on Wednesday night.

"He can throw 99 with sink or 89 with even more sink," Grichuk said of Martinez. "We feed off him. It's lot of fun playing behind him."

The Cardinals, who won for the seventh time in nine games, posted a season high-tying 19 hits. They had eight players with two or more hits, including Martinez. Piscotty and Yadier Molina each had three hits.

"It's fun to watch them put up crooked numbers in any inning, even against a quality pitcher like deGrom," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "When you throw up 19 hits and get (RBI) from six different guys, that's a great overall effort. We had a bunch of hits but not a lot of runs early, but Stephen helped with that home run."

Martinez (12-7) gave up four hits and got his second straight victory.

"I love how starting pitching set the tone," Matheny said. "It was almost a continuation of his last outing. He's understanding it's about location and movement. He can throw anything at any time."

Martinez allowed one run on three hits in seven innings against Houston his last time out.

Cubs 6, Padres 3

Kyle Hendricks has another weapon, although it's not a pitch.

It was on display when the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 6-3 to complete a three-game sweep on Wednesday.

"It's confidence," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "The biggest thing from last year to this year is the confidence thing. I think he believes he is one of the best right now."

Hendricks, the major league ERA leader, pitched six effective innings to pace the Cubs.

"Maybe he wasn't as sharp as usual, but he was really good," Maddon said.

Hendricks (12-7) gave up two runs and four hits, striking out eight and leaving with a 2.19 ERA. He has allowed no more than three earned runs in 17 straight starts.

Over that span, Hendricks has pitched to a 1.70 ERA.

"Today I had some bad at the beginning and some good at the end," he said. "I had both ends of the spectrum there.

"At the beginning my command was a little off. I finally started getting the ball down and found the movement on my two-seamer and started spotting that better. I was on a roll from there."

Three Cubs relievers took over for the NL Central leaders, with Aroldis Chapman pitching the ninth for his 29th save in 32 chances.

"I knew (Hendricks) was going to be really good this year but he has taken it to another level," Maddon said.

Willson Contreras homered and Ben Zobrist drove in two runs as the Cubs won for the 22nd time in 27 games. At 81-45, they are 36 games over .500 for the first time since ending the 1945 season at 98-56.

Phillies 5, White Sox 3

Battered in back-to-back games, the Phillies came out swinging this time.

Tommy Joseph and Cesar Hernandez homered to back Jerad Eickhoff, and struggling Philadelphia beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 on Wednesday night.

Philadelphia showed some spark at the plate and on the mound after getting outscored a combined 18-1 over the previous two games against St. Louis and Chicago. The Phillies came away with the win after dropping five of seven and salvaged a two-game split in their first trip to Chicago's South Side since 2004.

"These guys are grinding," Eickhoff said. "They're pushing themselves each and every night. For them to put some runs up there, it was a great feeling. I was just trying to keep us in the game and keep us getting in the dugout in any way, shape or form."

Joseph and Hernandez both had two hits and went deep against James Shields (5-16). Aaron Altherr added two RBI singles.

Eickhoff (9-12) did his part, allowing two runs and four hits over six innings.

Jeanmar Gomez worked the ninth for his 34th save in 38 chances. He gave up an RBI single to Avisail Garcia before Dioner Navarro grounded out with runners on first and third to end the game.

Wednesday, August 24 Scoreboard

Houston 5, Pittsburgh 4

Milwaukee 7, Colorado 1

Oakland 5, Cleveland 1

New York Yankees 5, Seattle 0

Chicago  Cbus 6, San Diego 3

Baltimore 10,W ashington 8

Los  Angeles Angels 8, Toronto 2

Texas 6, Cincinnati 5

Miami 3, Kansas City 0

Tampa Bay 4, Boston 3 (F/11)

Philadelphia 5, Chicago White Sox 3

Detroit 9, Minnesota 4

St. Louis 8, New York Mets 1

Arizona 10,  Atlanta 9 (F/11)

Los Angeles Dodgers 1, San Francisco 0

Thursday, August 25 Schedule (All Times Central)

Detroit at Minnesota, 12:10 p.m.

Boston at Tampa Bay, 12:10 p.m.

Baltimore at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

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

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

New York Mets at St. Louis, 6:15 p.m.

Cleveland at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

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

Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Atlanta at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

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

Friday, August 26 Schedule (All Times Central)

Baltimore at New York Yankees, 6:05 p.m.

Colorado at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

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

Los Angeles Angels at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m.

San Diego at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

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

Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

Oakland at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

Cincinnati at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.

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

Saturday, August 27 Schedule (All Times Central)

Baltimore at New York Yankees, 12:05 p.m.

Colorado at Washington, 12:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:05 p.m.

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

Seattle at Chicago White Sox, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 6:10 p.m.

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

Philadelphia at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m.

San Diego at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Oakland at St. Louis, 6:15 p.m.

Cleveland at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Arizona, 7:10 p.m.

Atlanta at San Francisco, 8:05 p.m.

Sunday, August 28 Schedule (All Times Central)

Baltimore at New York Yankees, 12:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at New York Mets, 12:10 p.m.

San Diego at Miami, 12:10 p.m.

Colorado at Washington, 12:35 p.m.

Seattle at Chicago White Sox, 1:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

Oakland at St. Louis, 1:15 p.m.

Cleveland at Texas, 2:05 p.m.

Atlanta at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Arizona, 3:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Boston, 7:00 p.m.