Cardinals Beat Pirates, Cubs, White Sox Lose

By ESPN

The St. Louis Cardinals welcomed back Randal Grichuk and Yadier Molina, and the duo made a big difference in their return.

Grichuk homered in his first game since being promoted from the minors, Molina had three hits and the Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-4 on Sunday night.

Grichuk, who was sent to the minors on May 29 after struggling with consistency, had two hits -- including his solo homer in the sixth inning -- and scored twice.

"It's nice to have him back," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Grichuk.

Molina, who had missed the previous two games after being hit by a foul tip on the knee, had three hits, scored three runs and drove in a run.

"He was swinging the bat great today, that's for sure," Matheny said of Molina.

The Cardinals, who had lost three straight, scored four runs in the seventh to break open a tie game. Molina's RBI single off Juan Nicasio (1-4) made it 5-4 and rookie Paul DeJong's two-run single gave St. Louis an 8-4 lead.

"We weren't able to make pitches," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "We weren't able to execute the fastball for the most part or the slider. Just too many pitches when you get up to 30 pitches and the two walks painted him in a bad corner."

Trevor Rosenthal (2-3) struck out the only batter he faced in the seventh to earn the win in relief for the Cardinals. Starter Mike Leake went six innings and allowed four runs -- three earned -- and six hits.

St. Louis took a 2-0 lead in the second on Greg Garcia's two-run single, but the Pirates went up 3-2 on the third on Adam Frazier's two-run triple and Josh Harrison's sacrifice fly.

Pittsburgh added another run in the fourth on Elias Diaz's sacrifice fly that scored Andrew McCutchen.

The Cardinals tied the game in the sixth on Grichuk's homer off Pirates starter Chad Kuhl and Jedd Gyorko's pinch-hit ground-rule RBI double.

Grichuk's 478-foot homer was the longest by a Cardinals player in the new Busch Stadium and the second-longest in stadium history. Milwaukee's Keon Broxton crushed a 489-foot shot on June 15.

"That was a bomb," Matheny said. "He smoked that ball."

Kuhl gave up four runs and eight hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked one.

Marlins 4, Cubs 2

Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon says this season is like learning to swim, with his team hoping to tread water until several key players return from the disabled list.

"We're just trying to keep the floaties on," Maddon said before Sunday's game.

Then came another injury and another defeat, leaving the defending World Series champions with that sinking feeling once again.

The Cubs wasted a fine pitching performance by Mike Montgomery, stranding 11 runners and allowing three unearned runs to lose to the Miami Marlins, 4-2.

Chicago also lost shortstop Addison Russell , who departed in the fourth inning. He complained of a sharp pinching pain in his throwing shoulder, which has bothered him at times the past two seasons. Russell is expected to miss at least one game and perhaps more.

The Marlins scored three unearned runs in the first after leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki reached when Russell bobbled his grounder for an error.

"The first play of the game was indicative -- an awkward spin on the ball, I understand that," Maddon said.

"There were just a couple of other things we did today that kind of gave it to them. Of course we didn't hit enough."

Edinson Volquez (4-8) gave up five hits and five walks in five innings, but stranded eight runners and departed with a 3-2 lead.

"I got used to pitching from the stretch," Volquez said with a smile. "I was able to make a lot of good pitches to get out of innings."

Volquez and three relievers combined to give up eight hits and seven walks. But the Cubs bounced into a double play, had a runner caught stealing and stranded at least one runner in seven innings.

Maddon was most annoyed about a botched hit and run with Wilson Contreras at the plate, which led to Ian Happ being caught stealing.

"We were trying to avoid a double play," Maddon said. "The mental mistakes are what make me upset."

Suzuki, 43, became the oldest player to start in center field since at least 1900, surpassing Rickey Henderson. Suzuki batted leadoff for the first time this year and went 0 for 4, dropping his average to .200.

Giancarlo Stanton hit his 20th homer for Miami, a solo shot off reliever Pedro Strop in the seventh.

Montgomery (1-4), making his fourth start of the year, settled down after the rocky first to pitch six innings. He allowed three runs, none earned, and his ERA fell to 2.03.

Volquez improved to 8-0 in 13 games against the Cubs, the best record against them among active pitchers. He said he didn't know until afterward he was undefeated against them.

A.J. Ramos retired all four batters he faced for his 12th save. The Marlins have scored 12 runs on 21 hits in their past five games, but won three.

"We stole a couple in there," manager Don Mattingly said.

"The pitching has kept the games close," Ramos said. "We're going to start hitting again pretty soon. We were due for a stretch where we weren't hitting as much, but we're doing enough to get wins."

The Marlins' Martin Prado, playing his third game after a long stint on the disabled list, hit a two-run double in the first for his first RBI since May 5.

Volquez walked the bases loaded in the second, but escaped when Anthony Rizzo popped out to end the inning. In the fourth inning Rizzo delivered a sacrifice fly, but Kris Bryant then struck out on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning and strand two more runners.

"Probably just trying to do too much instead of just score one," Maddon said.

Miami and Chicago split the four-game series.

Athletics 5, White Sox 3

The way they have struggled on the road, the Oakland Athletics sure were glad to sweep a three-game series -- even if they did it against a rebuilding team.

Sonny Gray pitched four-hit ball over seven innings , Adam Rosales and Matt Joyce hit back-to-back homers in the ninth, and the Athletics rallied to beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 on Sunday.

"It's no secret we struggle on the road," Gray said. "Guys in the clubhouse are aware. We're smarter than a lot of people think sometimes. We know what's going on."

The Athletics improved to 12-25 away from home after outscoring Chicago 18-5 in a three-game sweep. But the schedule takes another tough turn when the Athletics open a three-game series Tuesday at AL West leader Houston -- the same team that just swept four in Oakland.

Gray (3-3) picked up his first win since May 24. Chicago native Rosales and Joyce broke it open with their drives against David Robertson and Chris Beck to start the ninth, and Oakland completed the three-game sweep after getting dominated by Derek Holland.

The White Sox were rolling along with a 2-0 lead after Adam Engel hit his first career homer and Jose Abreu doubled and scored.

But things started to turn in the seventh.

Yonder Alonso chased Holland with a leadoff single, and the bullpen couldn't hold the lead.

"Those guys have picked me up before," Holland said.

Not this time, though.

Alonso scored on a two-out double by pinch hitter Jed Lowrie against Dan Jennings.

Oakland grabbed a 3-2 lead in the eighth on RBI singles by Khris Davis and Alonso against Tommy Kahnle (0-2) and Robertson.

"We were basically stagnant for a good portion of the game today and not even getting good at bats, let alone opportunities," manager Bob Melvin said. "And then all of a sudden the good at-bats came, kept fighting back, got ourselves in a position, and it seems like from the sixth inning on the at-bats were completely different than the first half of the game."

Gray struck out seven and walked one after going 0-2 in his previous five starts.

Santiago Casilla gave up a leadoff homer to Melky Cabrera in the ninth but earned his 13th save in 16 chances.

Holland held Oakland to one run and four hits and exited to loud cheers with a 2-0 lead. Manager Rick Renteria stayed in this one after back-to-back ejections, but the White Sox lost for the sixth time in seven games. They also fell a season-high 10 games below .500 at 32-42.

"Our bullpen has done a great job," Renteria said. "It really had."

Sunday, June 25 Scoreboard

Minnesota 4, Cleveland 0

Miami 4,  Chicago  Cubs 2

Baltimore 8, Tampa Bay 5

Los Angeles Angels 4, Boston 2

Milwaukee 7, Atlanta 0

Cincinnati 6, Washington 2

Texas 7, New York Yankees 6

Oakland 5, Chicago White Sox 3

Toronto 8, Kansas City 2

New York Mets 8, San Francisco 2

Houston 8, Seattle 2

Los Angeles Dodgers 12, Colorado 6

Arizona 2, Philadelphia 1 (F/11)

Detroit 7,  San Diego 5

St. Louis 8, Pittsburgh 4

Monday, June 26 Schedule (All Times Central)

Philadelphia at Arizona, 2:40 p.m.

Cincinnati at St. Louis, 3:15 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

Texas at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

New York Yankees at Chicago  White  Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Colorado at San Francisco, 9 p.m.

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