Contreras Delivers As Cubs Beat Phillies

By ESPN

Willson Contreras delivered in a big spot for the Chicago Cubs. With his bat and his legs.

Contreras hit a key two-run double and scored with some aggressive baserunning on Matt Szczur's infield hit, helping Chicago edge the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 on Wednesday night.

"You plug into this guy," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "As he learns to play with his hair on fire -- maybe not a forest fire, maybe just the burning bush or something, I don't know -- he's going to learn how to control all that."

Chicago trailed 3-1 before scoring four times in the sixth. Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist started the rally with singles, and then Jason Heyward dropped a two-out RBI single into left field.

After a passed ball by Knapp put runners on second and third, Contreras sent a pinch-hit double into the left-field corner. Szczur, batting for Jake Arrieta (4-1), followed with a grounder to shortstop Freddy Galvis.

Contreras took third and third base coach Gary Jones sent him home. Galvis' low throw bounced off the mound and forced catcher Andrew Knapp to jump. Contreras then slid around Knapp for a 5-3 lead.

"I think that caught him by surprise, that he kept running," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "He would have been out by 30 feet. And Freddy just spiked the ball. Just spiked it."

The rally handed a win to Arrieta (4-1), who finished strong after continuing the Cubs' trend of bad first innings. Wade Davis worked the ninth for his seventh save in seven tries after being acquired in an offseason trade with Kansas City.

Maikel Franco got Philadelphia within one with an RBI single in the eighth, but the Cubs bullpen closed the door. Hector Rondon got Odubel Herrera to strike out swinging on a full count to end the inning.

With one out and a runner on second in the ninth, Davis got Knapp to fly out to center and struck out Tommy Joseph to end the game.

Philadelphia right-hander Jerad Eickhoff (0-3) allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Arrieta was tagged for two runs in the first on an RBI single from Franco and a run-scoring double by Herrera, both with two outs.

Cubs starting pitchers now have an ERA of 11.00 in the first inning, by far the worst in the majors. After the first, the unit has an ERA of 3.25.

Arrieta finished six innings, allowing three runs and striking out seven.

"It was huge to kind of just turn the page a little bit, get back into the aggressive mindset, execute, try and force weak contact," Arrieta said. "That was kind of the theme of the game from that point on."

The right-hander helped his own cause with a run-scoring groundout in the second, driving in Heyward.

Cardiinals Postponed

Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis Cardinals was postponed

Royals 6, White Sox 1

Ned Yost was so consumed with trying to figure out who would replace Nate Karns out of the Royals' bullpen that he didn't even realize his starter had accomplished a rare feat until after the game.

Thanks to a wild pitch in the sixth, Karns managed to strike out four White Sox in a single inning.

"He was just fantastic," Yost said after Kansas City cruised to a 6-1 victory Wednesday night, and after finally learning about the four-K inning. "That's a pretty neat accomplishment."

Karns (1-2) allowed only a two-out single in the first over his six dominant innings, striking out seven with one walk. Throw in the wild pitch and an error on himself and Karns only allowed four runners to reach base, none of them getting closer to home than second.

"It helped pitching against them a couple days earlier," he said. "Everything was kind of clicking and they couldn't put a good swing on the ball."

Mike Pelfrey (0-2) kept the White Sox in it until the sixth, when he gave up a single, double and triple in succession. Eric Hosmer followed with a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead, a shot to center that came within about 5 feet of giving the Royals a natural team cycle.

Pelfrey allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings, and White Sox slugger Jose Abreu homered off the Kansas City bullpen with two outs in the ninth.

"It was good for the most part. I give up five hits," Pelfrey said. "It's all about location and every one of those were over the middle of the plate. I got what I deserved for all of those."

There was little indication a pitchers' duel would break out Wednesday night.

Karns had allowed 10 runs and four homers over 10 2/3 innings in his last two games, losing both of them. That included a 5-2 loss to the White Sox just last week.

Yet he managed to handcuff the hot-hitting White Sox on Wednesday night, giving up that early single and little else. Karns dealt with another runner in the fourth after his own bobble, and a third runner in the sixth when he struck out Yolmer Sanchez with a wild pitch.

Karns had struck out the first two batters and fanned Abreu to end it, making him the first Royals pitcher to strike out four in an inning since Kevin Appier on Sept. 3, 1996.

"We needed a start like that," Hosmer said. "He saved a lot of guys in the bullpen."

Meanwhile, Pelfrey had surrendered seven runs over 8 2/3 innings in his first two starts of the year, and that was only marginally better than his performances all of last season.

But the big right-hander bore down against the weak-hitting Royals, giving up a pair of singles and a walk over the first five innings, easily escaping trouble each time.

The Royals finally got to him in the sixth when Mike Moustakas followed Whit Merrifield's one-out single with his double to the gap in right. Lorenzo Cain followed with an RBI triple to the same spot, and Hosmer's fly ball to the wall in center gave Kansas City a comfortable cushion.

The Royals tacked on three more runs off the Chicago bullpen.

"The initial three was great," Yost said, "but the ability to tack on was even better."

Wednesday, May 3 Scoreboard

New York Yankees 8, Toronto 6

Washington 2, Arizona 1

Boston 4, Baltimore 2

Cleveland 3, Detroit 2

Cincinnati 7, Pittsburgh 2

Miami 10, Tampa Bay 6

New York Mets 16, Atlanta 5

Chicago Cubs 5, Philadelphia 4

Minnesota 7, Oakland 4

Houston 10,  Texas 1

Kansas City 6, Chicago  White Sox 1

Seattle 8, Los Angeles Angels 7

San Francisco 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 1 (F/11)

Colorado 11, San Diego 3

Milwaukee at St. Louis, postponed

Thursday, May 4 Schedule (All Times Central)

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 11:35 a.m.

Ariznoa at Washington, 12:05 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Oakland at Minnesota, 12:10 p.m.

Texas at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Kansas City, 1:15 p.m.

Philadelphia at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Colorado at San Diego, 2:40 p.m.

Baltimore at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

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

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

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

Los Angeles Angels at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Friday, May 5 Schedule (All Times Central)

New York Yankees at Chicago  Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

San Francisco at Cincinnati, 5:40 p.m.

Chicago  White Sox at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Washington at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Milwaukee at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

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

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

St. Louis at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

Boston at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

Detroit at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

Houston at Los Angeles Angels, 9:07 p.m.

Texas at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

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

Saturday, May 6 Schedule (All Times Central)

Boston at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

Toronto at Tampa Bay, 3:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Kansas City, 3:15 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Washington at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Milwaukee at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

St. Louis at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

San Francisco at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

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

New York Yankes at Chicago Cubs, 6:15 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 7:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego, 7:40 p.m.

Detroit at Oakland, 8:05 p.m.

Houston at Los Angeles Angels, 8:07 p.m.

Texas at Seattle, 8:10 p.m.

Sunday, May 7 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

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

Chicago White Sox at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m.

St. Louis at Atlanta, 12:35 p.m.

Milwaukee at Pittsburgh, 12:35 p.m.

Boston at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Kansas City, 1:15 p.m.

Washington at Philadelphia, 1:35 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

Houston at Los Angeles Angels, 2:37 p.m.

Detroit at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

Texas at Seattle, 3:10 p.m.

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

Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego, 3:40 p.m.

New York Yankees at Chicago Cubs, 7 p.m.