Cubs Beat Marlins, Reds Hand Cardinals Loss

By ESPN

Eddie Butler sailed into the sixth inning and Mike Montgomery took over from there.

A winning plan for the Chicago Cubs -- again.

Butler and Montgomery combined on a six-hitter, Kris Bryant hit a two-run homer and the Cubs beat the Miami Marlins 3-1 on Monday night for their fourth straight victory.

Butler (3-1) allowed one run and three hits in 5 2/3 innings, bouncing back nicely from a shaky start at San Diego last Tuesday. With closer Wade Davis on paternity leave, manager Joe Maddon then gave the ball to Montgomery and the left-hander went the rest of the way for his second save in his first appearance since May 28.

"I knew I was going to be going multiple innings. I didn't know I was going to finish the game," Montgomery said. "But I think Joe knows that it worked last time and if I can keep getting outs and guys keep making plays behind me, it might be better off just to do it like we did today."

Butler and Montgomery also teamed up for a 5-1 win against San Francisco on May 25, with Montgomery pitching the final four innings.

"I like the piggyback, but the lineups are perfect," Maddon said. "The Giant lineup was good for (Montgomery) also."

Albert Almora Jr. added a solo shot as Chicago remained perfect on its 10-game homestand after going winless on a six-game West Coast trip. Almora and Willson Contreras finished with two hits apiece.

Miami had won three straight and seven of eight. Marcell Ozuna had two hits, but the Marlins' lineup struggled for the most part on an unseasonably cool, breezy night at Wrigley Field.

"We didn't get anything going," manager Don Mattingly said. "The couple of times that we did, it ended quickly. We didn't do a whole lot."

Butler was working on a shutout before Dee Gordon hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth, trimming Chicago's lead to 3-1. Giancarlo Stanton followed with a double, chasing Butler.

Montgomery then got Christian Yelich to bounce to second to end the inning. The Marlins threatened again in the seventh, getting Ozuna to third with one out, but Montgomery struck out Derek Dietrich and retired Tyler Moore on a grounder.

Butler fanned four and walked one. He threw just 66 pitches against the Marlins, 45 for strikes.

"Today we really attacked the zone," Butler said.

Miami right-hander Dan Straily (4-4) struggled with location early on, but eventually settled down and pitched seven solid innings. He had won his last three starts.

Ben Zobrist led off the Cubs first with a double off the wall and Bryant followed with a deep drive to the bleachers in left, powering the ball through a stiff wind. Bryant is 5 for 10 against Straily in his career with three homers and eight RBI.

"Obviously, not the way I want to get going there with the first two guys, but you can't sit there and feel sorry for yourself," Straily said. "There's a lot of ballgame left to go at that point. I just had to keep pitching."

Almora connected in the fourth, hitting a drive to left-center for his first homer since April 28 and No. 3 on the season.

Reds 4, Cardinals 2

Carlos Martinez dominated the Cincinnati Reds for six innings, and the slumping St. Louis Cardinals still found a way to give up the lead on the way to another loss.

Eugenio Suarez and Scooter Gennett hit consecutive two-run doubles in the seventh inning, and Cincinnati came from behind to beat St. Louis 4-2 on Monday night.

Martinez (4-5) was almost perfect through six innings before wilting in the seventh as the Cardinals dropped their fourth straight and eighth in 11 games.

"It's been frustrating, but I think our team will remain united and get through this negative period," Martinez said through a translator. "You've got to keep your mind positive."

The Reds had lost two in a row and five of six going into the opener of this four-game series.

Martinez, who was 4-1 with a 2.03 ERA in his previous six starts, faced the minimum 18 batters through six innings with the help of catcher Yadier Molina, who threw out major league stolen base leader Billy Hamilton trying to swipe third in the first inning and Adam Duvall attempting to steal second in the second.

"He was as dominant as you can be," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said about Martinez. "It snowballed in a hurry. You've got to make plays to get outs. The next thing you know, your back's up against the wall."

Martinez retired 14 straight batters after Duvall's leadoff single before the Reds got to him in the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out. Suarez sent a line drive to center field that Dexter Fowler dropped while sprinting toward the wall.

"We were facing an ace," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "It looked like he was on. He didn't give us much to be excited about. Then we get a bunt hit.�It's the things you have to do."

Left-hander Kevin Siegrist was brought in to face the left-handed-hitting Gennett, who snapped an 0-for-19 slump with a double down the right-field line.

"This is a crazy game," Gennett said. "You can do everything right. You can hit the ball hard and get nothing or you can make soft contact like I did�tonight�and get a double. The more you play the game, you understand that hitless streaks are going to happen. You just embrace it and do the best you can."

Lisalverto Bonilla (1-3) pitched a perfect inning and Raisel Iglesias struck out three in a hitless ninth to remain perfect in 10 save chances.

Asher Wojciechowski tossed six effective innings in his second major league start for the Reds. Wojciechowski allowed eight hits and two runs with two walks and five strikeouts in six innings against St. Louis after giving up four hits, including three homers, and four runs over four innings last Tuesday at Toronto.

"I was focusing on fastball location," Wojciechowski said. "They made good plays behind me -- two double plays."

Wojciechowski faced the minimum nine batters through three innings and didn't permit a hit until Matt Carpenter's one-out single in the fourth. But the Cardinals bunched together five hits in a two-run fifth, including Tommy Pham's RBI double and Martinez's safety squeeze that scored Pham from third.

Martinez's bunt pushed Paul DeJong to second base, but he was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Fowler's single to left field -- the first of Duvall's two assists in the game.

"Those throws by Duvall were huge," Wojciechowski said. "It gives you confidence and you know you only have to get one more out."

Matheny had no problem with either runner trying to advance.

"You've got to let guys use their heads," he said. "Sometimes, they get it right. Sometimes, they don't. It would've been nice to get a little more there. We had some momentum going."

Monday, June 5 Scoreboard

Cincinnati 4, St. Louis 2

Philadelphia 11, Atlanta 4

San Francisco 7, Milwaukee 2

Chicago Cubs 3, Miami 1

Houston 7, Kansas City 3

Washington 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 2

Oakland 5, Toronto 3

Tuesday, June 6 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

Pittsburgh at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

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

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

Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

San Francisco at Milwaukee, 6:40 p.m.

New York Mets at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Miami at Chicago Cubs, 7:05 p.m.

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

Cleveland at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

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

Toronto at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Washington at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.