Rizzo Provides Power In Cubs Win, Leake Pitches Cardinals To Victory

By ESPN

Anthony Rizzo provided more power for the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night, and they needed every bit of it when their perfect closer nearly let an easy opportunity slip away.

Rizzo homered twice, Kyle Hendricks tossed seven strong innings and the Cubs hung on to beat the San Francisco Giants 5-4 after closer Wade Davis gave up a two-run homer in the ninth inning.

Rizzo hit solo homers off Matt Moore (2-5) in the second and fourth innings for his 14th career multihomer game. He has four homers over his last four games and 11 on the season.

"I've been on some streaks sometimes, but I want to be as consistent as possible," Rizzo said. "But you take it. You ride it. You ride it out and you enjoy it."

Javier Baez made it 3-2 with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Miguel Montero doubled and scored in the seventh, and Jason Heyward tripled and came around on Jon Jay's sacrifice fly in the eighth after the Giants left the bases loaded.

Davis allowed only one unearned run in his first 18 appearances. But things got really tight in his 19th.

Called on to start the ninth, he gave up a leadoff single to Eduardo Nunez. With one out, Mac Williamson drove a 2-2 cutter to the right-field basket on the 12th pitch of the at-bat to pull San Francisco to within 5-4.

Davis then walked Michael Morse before second baseman Baez raced back to snag Denard Span's bloop. Davis then caught Joe Panik looking at a 3-2 pitch on the outside corner. That gave Davis 10 saves in 10 chances, and the Cubs improved to 6-2 on their nine-game homestand.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy, meanwhile, made his feelings clear about the final pitch call from plate umpire Jeff Nelson.

"We had them on fumes," he said. "They got the benefit of a bad call. That's not a strike, I'm sorry. But they got the call and that's it."

Span homered for San Francisco after missing two games with a sprained left thumb. But the Giants lost for the third time in four games after winning eight of 10.

Hendricks (4-2) -- 3-1 over his last six starts with an ERA of 1.96 -- gave up two runs and five hits. He struck out five and walked none over seven innings, retiring 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.

"That was probably the strongest I felt deep into a game," Hendricks said.

Carl Edwards Jr. relieved Koji Uehara with two outs in the eighth and walked Buster Posey on four pitches to load the bases. He then fell behind 3-1 to Brandon Crawford before getting him to ground out to the mound to end the threat.

Moore gave up four runs and seven hits in six-plus innings.

Cardinals 6, Dodgers 1

Mike Leake isn't shocked to see his name atop the National League ERA leaderboard. The St. Louis Cardinals emerging ace gets why it's a surprise to others, though.

Leake allowed four hits over eight innings and dropped his ERA to 1.91, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 on Wednesday night.

"No, I'm not surprised because it's been an eight-year process for me to get to where I'm at," Leake said. "It's not a surprise for myself, but I'm sure it's a surprise for others."

Leake (5-2) struck out five and walked none while allowing an earned run. He's yet to allow more than three runs in a start this season.

"He's got a lot of movement on his ball," Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger said. "He was hitting his spots. He has been effective all year, and he has got a good thing going. We just didn't execute well tonight."

Yadier Molina hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Molina matched Kolten Wong for the Cardinals' longest streak this season.

Jedd Gyorko had three hits and also drew a walk during a two-run second inning that gave the Cardinals the lead for good.

Dodgers starter Rich Hill walked seven and allowed five earned runs in four-plus innings. He threw two more balls (42) than strikes (40).

Hill (1-2) walked four during a 36-pitch second inning.

"It was a bad outing. It was terrible," Hill said. "I accept full responsibility for that. I just gave them the game. That is unacceptable."

Hill retired the side in the first inning but was putting guys on base with regularity afterward.

"After that first inning, a very easy inning, it was pretty encouraging," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "But, once he took the mound in the second inning, I think he got a little frustrated with the strike zone."

Hill has battled blister problems since last season but said he's healthy and that his finger wasn't an issue.

"I can't really pinpoint it right now," Hill said of his problems. "Mechanically I was a little off, just kind of jumping all over the place. I am really going to work on some things this week to get right for the next outing."

Chris Taylor made his first start in center field for the Dodgers, replacing Joc Pederson, who was out with a stiff neck following a nasty collision with Yasiel Puig on the warning track Tuesday night. Pederson has passed all concussion protocols so far, but the Dodgers are still monitoring him.

"Puig was really soft," Pederson said. "The wall is really hard."

Diamondbacks 8, White Sox 6

First-year Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo oozes confidence in his team.

So far, it's been well-founded.

Jake Lamb homered off a left-hander for only the second time this season, five Diamondbacks drove in at least one run and Arizona beat Chicago 8-6 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep of the White Sox.

The Diamondbacks won for the eighth time in nine games and are 10 games above .500 (29-19) for the first time since 2011.

"We understand that we're doing things in a very special way. And something special could happen here," Lovullo said. "We're on the right road, but we've got to continue doing what we've been doing for the first 40 games and take it from there."

Arizona scored six runs in the fifth inning, chasing starter Jose Quintana and building a six-run lead, but they had to hold off a White Sox rally.

Quintana (2-6), who retired the first 10 batters he faced, went just 4 1/3 innings, allowing eight runs and eight hits, both season highs.

"A tough game for me -- bad day," he said. "I look ahead and keep going. Turn the page from this day and keep working and throw the ball where I want, especially fastballs."

Jose Abreu and Leury Garcia homered for the White Sox, who were swept for the second time on a 3-7 road trip. The Los Angeles Angels did it to start the trip.

"You're not going to see any of our guys putting their heads down and worrying about what just happened over the past 10 days," Chicago manager Rick Renteria said. "We take account of what happens, we take account of the good and the bad and then we got to get ready for the next series."

Andrew Chafin (1-0) threw a scoreless fifth inning to get the victory in relief of Randall Delgado.

Fernando Rodney walked Melky Cabrera with two outs in the ninth but got Abreu to ground out to end the game for his second straight save and 12th in 14 tries.

Abreu was 4 for 5 with three RBI.

Delgado, normally a long reliever, started in place of Taijuana Walker -- out with a blister on his right index finger.

Of Arizona's six hits in the fifth inning, three came from left-handed batters against the lefty Quintana.

With the game tied 2-2, Quintana hit Brandon Drury to start the inning. Lamb -- batting .149 against lefties -- followed with an opposite-field home run, his 13th of the season.

Lovullo plans to keep playing Lamb against left-handers. The only difference is he is dropped from cleanup to seventh in the batting order.

"Jake is going to continue to grow and learn every area of the game, so when he does something like he did today it doesn't surprise me," Lovullo said. "I know he's working hard to have those moments."

Lamb has hit home runs in two straight games and five of his last seven. He knows he has work to do against left-handers.

"I obviously know what's going on," he said. "At the same time, I'm not putting any extra pressure on myself. I'm just happy where I'm at mentally. I'm in a good spot. The results will come with more ABs and me continuing to work at it."

Nick Ahmed had a two-run single, Chris Owings a sacrifice fly and Drury a run-scoring single in the inning.

Wednesday, May 24 Scoreboard

Minnesota 4, Baltimore 3

Toronto 8, Milwaukee 4

Oakland 4, Miami 1

Arizona 8, Chicago White Sox 6

Cincinnati 4, Cleveland 3

New York Yankees 3, Kansas City 0

Washington 5, Seattle 1

Colorado 7, Philadelphia 2

Boston 9, Texas 4

San Diego 6, New York Mets 5

Tampa Bay 5, Los Angeles Angels 2

Pittsburgh 12, Atlanta 5 (F/10)

Chicago  Cubs 5, San Francisco 4

Detroit 6, Houston 3

St. Louis 6, Los Angeles Dodgers

Thursday, May 25 Schedule (All Times Central)

Seattle at Washington, 11:05 a.m.

Pittsburgh at Atlanta, 11:10 a.m.

Kansas City at New York Yankees, 12:05 p.m.

Colorado at Philadelphia, 12:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Tampa Bay, 12:10 p.m.

San Francisco at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Cincinnati at Cleveland, 5:10 p.m.

Texas at  Boston, 6:10 p.m.

San Diego at New York Mets, 6:10 p.m.

Arizona at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Detroit at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

St. Louis at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.

Friday, May 26 Schedule (All Times Central)

Detroit at Chicago White Sox, 4:10 p.m.

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

San Diego at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

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

Texas at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Seattle at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

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

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

Arizona at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

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

Baltimore at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

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

St. Louis at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

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

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

Saturday, May 27 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

Texas at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

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

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

Seattle at Boston, 3:05 p.m.

San Diego at Washington, 3:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Philadelphia, 3:05 p.m.

Kansas City at Cleveland, 3:10 p.m.

Arizona at Milwaukee, 3:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Miami, 3:10 p.m.

Baltimore at Houston, 6:15 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Dodgers, 6:15 p.m.

New York Mets at Pittsburgh, 6:15 p.m.

St. Louis at Colorado, 8:10 p.m.

Atlanta at San Francisco, 9:05 p.m.

Sunday, May 28 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

Texas at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Kansas City at Cleveland, 12:10 p.m.

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

Seattle at Boston, 12:35 p.m.

San Diego at Washington, 12:35 p.m.

Cincinnati at Philadelphia, 12:35 p.m.

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

Arizona at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

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

Baltimore at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

St. Louis at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

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

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

New York Mets at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.