Brewers Beat Cubs, Pirates Edge Cardinals

By ESPN

With the Milwaukee Brewers clinging to a one-run lead with one out in the ninth, Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo drove a ball to deep center field off closer Tyler Thornburg.

Drifting back, outfielder Keon Broxton timed his leaped and stretched above the wall to make the catch.

Broxton pumped his fist as he landed and Thornburg then got the final out to preserve Milwaukee's 2-1 victory Wednesday night.

Jonathan Villar homered from both sides of the plate to account for the Brewers' runs.

"I honestly didn't think it was going to go that far off the bat," Broxton said. "I just jogged to where I thought it was going to be and tracked it all the way to the wall. I saw it coming down and I had a good chance to jump up and catch it."

Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell described Broxton's catch with the game on the line as "every outfielder's dream."

"You could tell by the way Keon reacted. You don't get opportunities like that (very often)," Counsell said.

Chicago manager Joe Maddon said he knew that ball would carry to the fence as soon as it was hit.

"But that kid, Broxton, he's so athletic that he was able to go over it," Maddon said.

Milwaukee, which took two of three in the series, got its first hit when Villar homered leading off the fourth. Villar homered again off Joe Smith (1-1), the sixth Chicago pitcher, leading off the eighth.

Pirates 4, Cardinals 3

Just about everyone in the Pirates' clubhouse was in a reflective mood after Pittsburgh ended its longest skid in five years.

Jung Ho Kang led off the eighth inning with a home run, leading the Pirates to a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night to snap an eight-game losing streak.

Kang hit a drive deep into the bullpens in left-center off rookie Alex Reyes (1-1) for his 17th homer and third in two games. It helped snap the Pirates' longest skid since dropping 10 straight in 2011.

The third baseman returned from the disabled list Monday after missing 15 days with a sore left shoulder.

"I really, really reflected on myself and how much I really want to win and how much I really want to play baseball," Kang said of his time on the DL. "I really spent good time thinking about that."

The Cardinals are percentage points ahead of the New York Mets for the second NL wild card, and the Pirates pulled within 4 1/2 games of St. Louis.

Trevor Williams (1-0) allowed one unearned run in three innings for the win in his major league debut. He shared an emotional moment with his father after the game.

White Sox, Tigers 4

Detroit manager Brad Ausmus glanced at the stadium scoreboard with his team ahead and saw Baltimore had lost. If the Tigers held on, they'd enter their weekend series against the Orioles tied for the final AL wild-card spot.

Then Shane Greene and the bullpen faltered and Ausmus had to settle for what he called a "mediocre" road trip.

Avisail Garcia hit a go-ahead single against his former team in a four-run eighth inning and the Chicago White Sox beat Detroit 7-4 on Wednesday to keep the Tigers a game behind the Orioles.

"It could be worse, .500 isn't awful," Ausmus said of their trip. "Would have been nice to take this one today and take four out of six. But we'll go 3-3 and we've got a big series with Baltimore coming up."

Jose Abreu led off the eighth with a single for his third hit and scored on Justin Morneau's double off Greene (3-4). After Todd Frazier grounded out, Garcia singled to right-center.

"I left some balls over the plate and they hit all of them," Greene said. "This one is on me, and I won't let it happen again."

Wednesday, September 7 Scoreboard

New York Mets 6, Cincinnati 3

Tampa Bay 7, Baltimore 6

Chicago White Sox 7, Detroit 4

Oakland 4, Los Angeles Angels 1

Pittsburgh 4, St. Louis 3

New York Yankees 2, Toronto 0

Washington 5,  Atlanta 4 (F/11)

Cleveland 6, Houston 5

Miami 6, Philadelphia 0

Milwaukee 6, Kansas City 5

Colorado 6, San Francisco 5

Boston 7, San Diego 2

Seattle 8, Texas 3

Los Angeles Dodgers 3, Arizona 1

Thursday, September 8 Schedule (All Times Central)

Houston at Cleveland, 11:10 a.m.

Tampa Bay at New York Yankees, 6:05 p.m.

Philadelphia at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

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

Texas at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Colorado at San Diego, 9:10 p.m.

Friday, September 9 Schedule (All Times Central)

Tampa Bay at New York Yankees, 6:05 p.m.

Philadelphia at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Boston at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Baltimore at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

New York Mets at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

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

Cleveland at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

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

San Francisco at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Texas at Los Angeles Angels, 9:05 p.m.

Seattle at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

Colorado at San Diego, 9:40 p.m.

Saturday, September 10 Schedule (All Times Central)

Boston at Toronto, 12:05 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Houston, 12:05 p.m.

Tampa Bay at New York Yankees, 3:05 p.m.

Seattle at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

Philadelphia at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Kansas City at Chicago White Sox, 6:10 p.m.

Baltimore at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Minnesota, 6:10 p.m.

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

Los Angeles Dodgers at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

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

San Francisco at Arizona, 7:10 p.m.

Colorado at San Diego, 7:40 p.m.

Texas at Los Angeles Angels, 8:05 p.m.

Sunday, September 11 Schedule (All Times Central)

Tampa Bay at New York Yankees, 12:05 p.m.

Boston at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Baltimore at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Miami, 12:10 p.m.

New York Mets at Atlanta, 12:35 p.m.

Philadelphia at Washington, 12:35 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 12:35 p.m.

Kansas City at Chicago  White Sox, 1:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

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

Texas at Los Angeles Angels, 2:35 p.m.

Seattle at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

San Francisco at Arizona, 3:10 p.m.

Colorado at San Diego, 3:40 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Houston, 7 p.m.