Cubs Down Astros, Brewers Edge Cardinals

By ESPN

On a night when Jake Arrieta did not have his best stuff, the Chicago Cubs' offense offered more than enough support.

Jorge Soler and Addison Russell homered to lead Chicago to a 9-5 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday night, moving the Cubs closer to clinching the NL Central.

Soler hit a solo home run as part of Chicago's four-run third, and Russell hit a two-run shot -- his 20th of the season -- in the fourth as the Cubs built a 9-0 lead.

"We came out ready to play," Chicago manager Joe Maddon said. "We always do, but there was a little bit of juice about the whole game. Everybody was really raring to go and I thought we did a wonderful job of getting on top like we did."

Chicago extended its lead in the NL Central to 16 games over St. Louis.

"I think it all comes back to our goals and what we need to accomplish as a team," Russell said. "You come out with team wins like we did today, you saw the defense today and offense today and great pitching today as well. Keep that rolling, and we should be good."

Houston fell 9 1/2 games behind Texas in the AL West and 3 1/2 back of Toronto and Baltimore in the wild-card race.

Brewers 2, Cardinals 1

Milwaukee's Ryan Braun fouled off the pitch he liked before coming through for the Brewers.

Braun hit a solo home run in the ninth inning and the Brewers beat St. Louis 2-1 on Sunday, dropping the Cardinals back in the NL wild-card race.

The Cardinals are a half-game behind the Mets for the second wild-card slot.

Braun connected on a 3-2 fastball off Kevin Siegrist (5-3) for his 27th homer of the season and 19th in his career against the Cardinals.

"The 0-1 pitch was the best pitch to hit," said Braun, who fouled it off. "It was better than the one I hit. The one I hit out was on the black in."

Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell liked Braun's approach in the at-bat.

"He hit a couple of foul balls there where he took really good swings," Counsell said. "He's (Siegrest) tough on righty's, always has been. Braun got himself back in the count and he made a mistake. It was a no-doubter."

St. Louis had tied it in the eighth when Matt Carpenter doubled and scored on Stephen Piscotty's sacrifice fly off Tyler Thornburg (6-5).

Thornburg struck out three in the ninth.

Royals 2, White Sox 0

Ian Kennedy wanted to talk about Chris Sale's outing more than his own performance.

"What did he go, eight innings, 12 punchouts?" Kennedy said. "You know you're going up against one of the best pitchers in the American League. I just wanted to go out there and try to give our team a chance."

Kennedy did a lot better than that, combining with three relievers on a two-hitter and helping the Kansas City Royals edge Sale and the Chicago White Sox 2-0 on Sunday.

The key for Kansas City was swinging early. Kendrys Morales homered on Sale's first pitch of the second and Eric Hosmer did the same in the fourth.

"Honestly, I just try to get out of that box as quick as I can without getting embarrassed," Hosmer said.

The Royals won their second straight to stay four games behind Baltimore for the final AL wild-card spot. They have to jump five teams over the final 20 games to reach the playoffs for the third straight year.

"We needed this," Hosmer said.

Kennedy (11-9) walked four, but Adam Eaton's leadoff single was the only hit off the right-hander in six innings. He improved to 5-0 in his last six starts.

Sunday, September 11 Scoreboard

Tampa Bay 4, New York Yankees 2

Boston 11,  Toronto 8

Baltimore 3, Detroit 1

Miami 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 0

New York Mets 10, Atlanta 3

Washington 3, Philadelphia 2

Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 0

Kansas City 2, Chicago White Sox 0

Cleveland 7, Minnesota 1

Milwaukee 2, St. Louis 1

Los Angeles Angels 3, Texas 2

Seattle 3, Oakland 2

San Francisco 5, Arizona 3

Colorado 3, San Diego 2 (F./10)

Chicago Cubs 9, Houston 5

Monday, September 12 Schedule (All Times Central)

Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Yankees, 6:05 p.m.

New York Mets at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Baltimore at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

Minnesota at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Miami at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

Oakland at Kansas City, 6:15 p.m.

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

Texas at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

Colorado at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

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

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