Cardinals Edge D-Backs, Nationals Down Cubs

By ESPN

 A night after giving up two runs in a loss, the St. Louis Cardinals turned to Trevor Rosenthal again out of the bullpen with the game on the line.

Rosenthal held on for the win, though it was adventurous. The veteran right-hander survived a rocky ninth inning that included two wild pitches, and got the save in the Cardinals' 4-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday night.

Rosenthal closed out a win for starter Adam Wainwright, who pitched into the seventh inning. Yadier Molina and Jedd Gyorko each drove in two runs.

"It's not always pretty but it's good when you get it done, that's for sure," Rosenthal said.

Wainwright (8-5) limited the Diamondbacks to two runs and eight hits over 6 1/3 innings He struck out eight.

"The last two games I've located the ball," Wainwright said. "Before that I was missing across the plate, missing up, missing down. You just can't miss in this game with these big-league hitters. They'll punish you every time."

Arizona slugger Paul Goldschmidt went 0 for 4, the first time all season he has gone hitless in four at-bats in back-to-back games. His franchise-record 42-game on-base streak at Chase Field came to an end.

Gyorko's RBI double in the eighth pushed St. Louis' lead to 4-2.

The Diamondbacks nearly tied it against Rosenthal in the ninth. Brandon Drury led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. One out later, Chris Herrmann walked and both runners advanced on pinch-hitter Gregor Blanco's grounder. Drury then scored on another Rosenthal wild pitch, with Herrmann moving up to third.

After a walk to Daniel Descalso, Rosenthal got David Peralta on a grounder to pick up his fourth save.

"We needed somebody to come in today and get the job done and close the door," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said, a night after closer Seung Hwan Oh blew a save chance. "He's done it a lot and we know he has the stuff to do it."

Zack Godley (3-2) took the loss, allowing three runs and two hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings. The Diamondbacks snapped a four-game winning streak.

Godley's wildness in the fourth inning proved costly. The Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs as Godley walked Matt Carpenter, Tommy Pham singled and Stephen Piscotty was hit by a pitch that the Diamondbacks challenged but lost. Then came a walk to Gyorko to force in a run.

Yadier Molina bounced a single to left field with the bags full to drive in two runs and make it 3-0 before Godley got out of the inning. The hit extended Molina's hitting streak to 14 games.

The Diamondbacks got a run in the bottom of the fourth on back-to-back doubles from Jake Lamb and Chris Owings. Wainwright then struck out the next three batters, and right after a called third strike to Jeff Mathis to end the inning, Mathis was ejected by home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn for arguing.

That brought Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo out of the dugout, and he, too, was thrown out. The ejections were the first two for Arizona this season and the first for Lovullo as a manager.

"I felt like his ejection wasn't justified," Lovullo said of Mathis. "It takes lot to get me there but when I get there you see what happens."

The Diamondbacks pulled within a run in the seventh after Descalso beat out a potential double-play grounder that would have ended the inning. Rey Fuentes scored, but reliever Tyler Lyons got Peralta to pop out.

Nationals 8, Cubs 4

Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals put a perfect finish on another rough day for the sputtering Chicago Cubs.

Strasburg struck out 13 in seven innings, Bryce Harper had two doubles and two RBI, and the Nationals beat the Cubs 8-4 on Wednesday night.

Anthony Rendon and Matt Wieters hit back-to-back homers against John Lackey (5-9) during Washington's four-run second inning. After the Cubs pulled within three at 6-3, Daniel Murphy went deep in the fifth.

The Cubs lost for the fourth time in six games to drop back to .500 at 39-39. They cut veteran catcher Miguel Montero after he criticized pitcher Jake Arrieta for his role in the Nationals' seven steals Tuesday night, and then reigning NL MVP Kris Bryant departed with a right ankle sprain.

"Things happen. You have to fix them when things happen," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "You don't cry. Of course suboptimal, no question."

Bryant awkwardly clipped third base while catching a foul pop off the bat of Wieters in the fifth. He walked around gingerly before being helped off the field. An X-ray was negative and Bryant is expected to miss at least the next two games, according to Maddon.

"We have a game to win tomorrow," Maddon said. "(Bryant) will not be starting, obviously, so we'll try to figure it out in another way."

Strasburg (9-2) allowed three runs, two earned, and four hits before leaving with back spasms. He improved to 6-1 in his last nine starts.

"He had it going on tonight," Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. "You could just sort of tell when he left last night that he was going to be ready. Today, he had that kind of look in his eyes."

Ryan Zimmerman drove in two runs for the NL East-leading Nationals, who have won two in a row over the World Series champions after dropping Monday's series opener.

Willison Contreras and Anthony Rizzo homered for Chicago. Lackey allowed a season-high eight runs and nine hits over 5 1/3 innings.

Strasburg rebounded after allowing five earned runs in five innings during a no-decision against Cincinnati on Friday. He retired nine of his first 10 batters and struck out the side in the second and third innings.

After Contreras's two-run homer in the fourth and a Chicago run in the fifth, Strasburg set down his final eight batters.

Strasburg initially felt his back spasm while sitting on the bench in the fourth inning.

"The first couple throws warming up going back out there, you feel it a little bit," he said. "Just tried to mentally not let it affect me. I think it kind of helped just slow everything down a little bit, especially after a couple runs scored there in the middle innings."

Rizzo hit his team-leading 18th home run against Enny Romero in the eighth.

Harper doubled and scored in the first inning on Zimmerman's base hit. He added a bases-loaded walk in the second and an RBI double in the sixth off Brian Duensing.

Yankees 12, White Sox 3

The New York Yankees are not sure how long they will keep Miguel Andujar. Games like this will make it harder to send him back to the minors.

Andujar had three hits and four RBI in his big league debut, Aaron Judge added his major league-leading 27th homer and the struggling Yankees pounded the Chicago White Sox 12-3 on Wednesday night.

Andujar made a good impression after being called up from Triple-A with Matt Holliday going on the disabled list because of an illness. He hit a bases-loaded single against Carlos Rodon with two outs in the first to give New York a 3-0 lead. Andujar also singled in the third, walked in the eighth and drove in two more with a double in the ninth.

"What an amazing day," Andujar said through an translator. "I'm never going to forget this day. I'm super happy to be here, to be with these guys."

Manager Joe Girardi said he hadn't discussed "what's next" for Andujar with general manager Brian Cashman. He figured that subject would come up when the two talked after the game.

"(Andujar) played a great game," Girardi said. "He came up and did a really good job so we'll see."

Judge's two-run drive capped a five-run sixth against reliever Jake Petricka, breaking open a 3-2 game. And New York came away with a lopsided win after dropping 11 of 14.

The White Sox lost for the eighth time in 10 games, with Rodon (0-1) struggling in his season debut and manager Rick Renteria getting ejected yet again.

Masahiro Tanaka (6-7) went six innings for his first win since May 8. The right-hander gave up two runs and six hits after going 0-6 in his previous eight starts.

Sidelined all season because of bursitis in his left biceps, Rodon needed 94 pitches to get through five innings. He allowed three unearned runs and two hits but walked six.

"I was pretty excited," Rodon said. "The game was going a little fast in the first, but, like I said, it was good to be out there and knock some rough out. Next time out, hopefully a little bit better."

Melky Cabrera cut it to 3-2 with a two-run single for Chicago in the fifth. But the Yankees broke it open with two outs in the sixth.

Renteria got tossed for the third time in six games when he went to the mound to talk to Petricka following back-to-back RBI doubles by Tyler Wade and Ronald Torreyes. He had words with plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt and quickly got thrown out for the fifth time this season.

Petricka also got ejected at the end of the inning -- but not before New York added to the lead.

Brett Gardner grounded an RBI single to center and Judge lined a 2-0 changeup to the left-field seats. As he rounded first, he stared down fans in right field who had been heckling him.

Didi Gregorius added a two-run homer for New York in the ninth. Chicago's Adam Engle hit a solo drive in the bottom half.

Wednesday, June 28 Scoreboard

Philadelphia 5, Seattle 4

San Francisco 5, Colorado 3

Washington 8, Chicago Cubs 4

Pittsburgh 6, Tampa Bay 2

Toronto 4, Baltimore 0

Minnesota 4, Boston 1

Cleveland 5, Texas 3

Kansas City 8, Detroit 2

Cincinnati 4, Milwaukee 3

New York Mets 8, Miami 0

New York Yankees 12, Chicago White Sox 3

Houston 11, Oakland 8

St. Louis 4, Arizona 3

Los  Angeles Angels 3, Los  Angeles Dodgers 2

San Diego 7, Atlanta 4

Thursday, June 29 Schedule (All Times Central)

Texas at Cleveland, 11:10 a.m.

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

Oakland at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

St. Louis at  Arizona, 2:40 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Washington, 3:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Boston, 6 p.m.

Tampa Bay at PIttsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Baltimore at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Milwaukee at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

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

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

Atlanta at San Diego, 8;10 p.m.

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

Friday, June 30 Schedule (All Times Central)

Tampa  Bay at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

San Francisco at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Boston at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

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

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

Miami at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

New York Yankees at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

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

Washington at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

Colorado at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Atlanta at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

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

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

Saturday, July 1 Schedule (All Times Central)

Boston at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

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

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

Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 3:05 p.m.

Atlanta at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

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

Miami at Milwaukee, 3:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, 3:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at New York Mets, 3:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 6:15 p.m.

New York Yankees at Houston, 6:15 p.m.

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

Minnesota at Kansas City, 7:35 p.m.

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

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

Colorado at Arizona, 9:10 p.m.

Sunday, July 2 Schedule (All Times Central)

Boston at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, 12:10 p.m.

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

Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m.

San Francisco at Pittsburgh, 12:35 p.m.

Texas at Chicago Whtie Sox, 1:10 p.m.

Miami at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

New York Yankees at Hosuton, 1:10 p.m.

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

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

Atlanta at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

Colorado at Arizona, 3:10 p.m.

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

Washington at St. Louis, 7 p.m.