Cards' Wainwright Turns Page, Cubs Blank Pirates

BY ESPN

Zach Duke retired the only batter he faced, birthday boy Adam Wainwright turned the page on a disappointing year and the St. Louis Cardinals strengthened their hold on the final NL wild-card spot.

Duke stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout in the 10th inning after Randal Grichuk hit an RBI single in the top half of the inning, lifting the Cardinals over the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 on Tuesday night.

St. Louis added a game to its lead in the wild card and is now 2 1/2 up on the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets.

Seung Hwan Oh (4-2) pitched out of a jam in the ninth to get the win. Duke got his first save with the Cardinals by entering to strike out pinch-hitter Manny Pina after Matt Bowman walked three batters.

The Cardinals' Jhonny Peralta led off the 10th with a single off Corey Knebel (0-2) and moved to third on Yadier Molina's ground-rule double. Jeremy Hazelbaker, who pinch ran for Peralta, scored the winning run on Grichuk's flare to right.

Wainwright dueled with Milwaukee's Wily Peralta for seven innings, and they left a 1-1 game for the bullpens to settle.

Cubs 3, Pirates 0

Kyle Hendricks began the season as the Cubs' No. 5 starter. He's on pace to finish it as the major league's ERA leader and -- if manager Joe Maddon has his way -- potentially with an even bigger trophy.

Hendricks threw seven dominant innings to lower the majors' best ERA to 2.09 and Anthony Rizzo homered to lead the Cubs past the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 on Tuesday night for Chicago's 21st victory in August.

"He has to be in Cy Young contention," Maddon said. "Put the radar gun in your back pocket and look at what he's doing. There has to be strong consideration, not just consideration."

Hendricks (13-7) allowed three hits and has given up three or fewer runs in 18 straight starts. He didn't allow a hit until Gregory Polanco's bloop to left-center in the fifth and faced the minimum 17 batters until John Jaso's two-out double in the sixth.

Not bad for a guy who doesn't often hit 90 mph with his fastball.

"He's not the guy who's getting away with plus-plus stuff. He's just executing his game plan and he knows how to attack hitters," Rizzo said. "He studies hitters and he went to Dartmouth and he has a really good education. So he out-tricks guys."

Rizzo belted a two-run homer off Chad Kuhl (3-2) in the first and Miguel Montero added an RBI single an inning later as the Cubs improved to 84-47 despite only five hits.

Tigers 8, White Sox 4

Ian Kinsler broke out of a slump and helped the Detroit Tigers win Tuesday night.

At the end of the game, though, everyone was paying attention to JaCoby Jones.

Jones had two hits and two RBI in his major league debut, including a sixth-inning double to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead.

"This is simply amazing," Jones said. "I don't know any other words to describe this. Just amazing."

Jones found out Monday night that he was being called up as the Tigers juggled their roster before the 40-man expansion on Thursday. He had time to call his parents and get them to Comerica Park in time for the game.

They watched from behind the plate as he added an RBI single in the seventh.

"That's the biggest thing -- having them here to see it after all the years they put up with my baseball schedule," he said.

Kinsler came into the game hitting .085 (4 for 47) in his last 13 games, but he hit a two-run homer in the fifth and added a two-run single in Detroit's four-run sixth inning.

Tuesday, August 30 Scoreboard

Baltimore 5, Toronto 3

Washington 3, Philadelphia 2

Tampa Bay 4, Boston 3

Cleveland 5, Minnesota 4

Detroit 8, Chicago White Sox 4

Atlanta 7, San Diego 3

New York Mets 7, Miami 4

Chicago Cubs 3, Pittsburgh 0

Texas 8, Seattle 7

St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1 (F/10)

Houston 3, Oakland 1

New York Yankees 5, Kansas City 4 (F/10)

Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado, postponed

Los Angeles Angels 4, Cincinnati 2

Arizona 4, San Francisco 3

Wednesday, August 31 Schedule (All Times Central)

Chicago White Sox at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Boston, 12:35 p.m.

Seattle at Texas, 1:05 p.m.

Oakland at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

Arizona at San Francisco, 2:45 p.m.

Toronto at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

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

Washington at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

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

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

Pittsburgh at Chicago Cubs, 7 p.m.

St. Louis at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Los Angeles at Colorado, 7:10 p.m.

New York Yankees at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.