Jay, Happ Leads Cubs Past Rays, Cardinals Lose

By ESPN

For most of the day, it looked like another frustrating loss for the Chicago Cubs.

Then Jon Jay came to the plate

Jay connected for his third career pinch-hit homer and Ian Happ hit a tiebreaking two-run single an inning later, helping the Cubs rally for a 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.

"When you're not starting the game, I know I have a chance to come off the bench and impact the game and I was able to do that today," Jay said. "So I definitely like being in those situations."

Chicago (42-42) returned to .500 for the 19th time with its third win in its last eight games. The reigning World Series champions have not been more than two games over or two games under .500 at any point since May 27.

"We've shown our flashes of the type of team we can be," said Jay, who signed with the Cubs in the offseason. "We've just got to continue to keep fighting."

The Cubs trailed 3-0 before Jay drove a 1-2 pitch from Erasmo Ramirez (4-3) over the wall in left-center for a tying homer with two out in the sixth inning. Jay then popped out of the dugout for a curtain call, obliging the crowd of 39,855 on a picturesque day at Wrigley Field.

Happ got his big hit in the seventh, driving in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo with a bouncer up the middle against Tampa Bay's drawn-in infield. Happ had two hits and is batting .357 (10 for 28) in his last seven games.

"Happer just rolling it through the middle obviously was a game changer," manager Joe Maddon said.

Tampa Bay (44-42) wasted a chance for a two-game sweep in its reunion with Maddon, who skippered the Rays for nine years before leaving after the 2014 season and taking over the Cubs.

Mallex Smith went 4 for 4 and scored three times for the Rays, who had won three of four. Blake Snell pitched five scoreless innings in his best outing of the year, working around four hits and four walks.

"It's definitely as step forward, but I got to get into the sixth inning, I have to," Snell said. "I'm aware of it, but hopefully a step in the right direction."

Smith doubled and scored on Evan Longoria's sacrifice fly in the sixth, giving Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead against John Lackey. But that was it for the Rays.

"Just unfortunate we couldn't hold the lead," manager Kevin Cash said.

Pedro Strop (3-2) replaced Lackey and pitched a scoreless seventh for the win.

Tampa Bay was only down by two when it put two runners on against Carl Edwards Jr. with two out in the eighth. But Koji Uehara came in and struck out Longoria to end the inning.

Marlins 9, Cardinals 6

It's official: Giancarlo Stanton's slump was short-lived.

Stanton homered twice, recording his 22nd career multihomer game, and Marcell Ozuna and Justin Bour also hit home runs as the Miami Marlins beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-6 on Wednesday night.

Stanton went 3 for 4 and also walked while driving in four runs as the Marlins won their second straight. He has five hits in his last two games after starting Miami's road trip in a 1-for-17 funk.

"Most of the time when he gets the barrel on it, it's gone," Ozuna said. "Like me, I try to do the same thing but double."

Dustin McGowan (5-0) gave up a run in 1 1/3 innings of relief, while David Phelps and Kyle Barraclough each pitched a scoreless inning. AJ Ramos earned his 15th save in 16 attempts.

Miami starter Edinson Volquez allowed four runs in four innings, the third time in his last five starts that he failed to complete five innings. Volquez has not lost against St. Louis since April 27, 2014.

Volquez left the game with a sore left knee. He was expected to be re-evaluated Thursday, but is not scheduled to start again before the All-Star break.

"He was having something there that I guess he's had in the past," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "It flared up on him there and he just couldn't pitch the way he needed to."

Stanton lined a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.

Stanton's second homer, a three-run shot, capped a five-run second. The Marlins, aided by a pair of Cardinals fielding errors by second baseman Matt Carpenter and first baseman Luke Voit, had just two hits during the frame. Four of the five runs given up by St. Louis starter Mike Leake (6-7) in the inning were unearned.

Ozuna drove in runs with a homer in the third and a double in the fourth. It was his third homer in his last four games.

Bour reached four times, with a pair of hits. Derek Dietrich had two hits for the Marlins and Dee Gordon scored twice.

Tommy Pham had an RBI double and scored on Stephen Piscotty's single as the Cardinals scored three in the third. Pham's two-run double in the sixth cut Miami's lead to 8-6.

Leake went 3 2/3 innings in his shortest outing of the season. Just three of the eight runs he allowed were earned.

"Leake didn't have his best stuff, but he pitched well enough to let us win," Pham said. "That's all you can ask from your pitcher. We have to do a better job of going out there and just playing great, mistake-free baseball."

Four Cardinals pitchers combined for 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief before Seung Hwan Oh gave up Bour's solo homer in the ninth.

"Any time you've got multiple guys hitting home runs, you know that you've got people going up there with a good approach and doing the right thing," Bour said. "It's a good win."

Athletics 7, White Sox 4

An improving change-up that repeatedly fooled the White Sox hitters was more than enough to offset the stomach illness that bothered Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray most of the afternoon.

Another three-hit game from Jed Lowrie and four stolen bases by Rajai Davis definitely helped Gray feel a lot better, too.

Gray pitched six mostly sharp innings to beat Chicago for the second time in two weeks and Oakland defeated the White Sox 7-4 on Wednesday.

"He was sick all day today and to get six out of him like we did . he stepped up because he was not feeling too good before the game and he's not feeling great right now," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "He's back to looking like he has in the past, and a lot of it had to do with health. Now he's back doing his thing like we've expected him to do."

Jed Lowrie added three hits and two RBI, Bruce Maxwell doubled in two runs and Jaycob Brugman homered to help the A's to their second straight home win following eight consecutive losses at the Coliseum.

The win was manager Bob Melvin's 499th with the A's and the 992nd of his career.

Gray (4-4) surrendered a two-run home run to Matt Davidson in the fifth, the only blemish during an otherwise strong outing. Gray gave up two runs on three hits with five strikeouts, and has allowed four runs over his last 21 innings -- a 1.71 ERA.

"I think I've just gotten into a little bit of a groove, a little bit of a rhythm," Gray said. "When I'm at my best I'm not necessarily going to strike a lot of people out but I'm going to get a lot of groundballs, and I've been getting that a lot lately. I just feel like I'm able to do what I want."

Todd Frazier also homered for the White Sox, a two-run blast off reliever Sean Doolittle in the ninth.

Lowrie singled in the first and in the third before breaking the game open with a two-run single in the fourth. It's Lowrie's eighth three-hit game of the season.

Davidson's homer was his 18th.

White Sox starter Mike Pelfrey (3-7) retired 10 batters and allowed four runs to fall to 0-6 in six career starts in Oakland. It's the 10th time in 14 starts that the right-hander has pitched five innings or fewer.

"I obviously killed the bullpen," Pelfrey said. "We obviously didn't give up, we kept fighting and I didn't do my part especially going up against somebody like Sonny Gray on the other side."

Wednesday, July 5 Scoreboard

Toronto 7, New York Yankees 6

Chicago Cubs 7, Tampa Bay 3

Oakland 7, Chicago White Sox 4

Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 2

San Diego 6, Cleveland 2

San Francisco 5, Detroit 4

Milwaukee 4, Baltimore 0

Houston 10, Atlanta 4

Texas 8, Boston 2

Los Angeles Angels 2, Minnesota 1

Miami 9, St. Louis 6

Colorado 5, Cincinnati 3

Kansas City 9, Seattle 6 (F/10)

Los Angeles Dodgers 1, Arizona 0

Thursday, July 6 Schedule (All Times Central)

San Francisco at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Miami at St. Louis, 12:45 p.m.

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

Cincinnati at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Philadelphia, 5:05 p.m.

Atlanta at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Houston at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

San Diego at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

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

Baltimore at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Oakland at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

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

Friday, July 7 Scoreboard (All Times Central)

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

San Diego at Philadelphia, 5:30 p.m.

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

Atlanta at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Houston at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Detroit at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

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

Los Angeles Angels at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Baltimore at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

New York Mets at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

Cincinnati at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Oakland at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.

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

Saturday, July 8 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

Houston at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Baltimore at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

Atlanta at Washington, 3:05 p.m.

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

New York Mets at St. Louis, 3:10 p.m.

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

Detriot at Cleveland, 6:15 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Chicago Cubs, 6:15 p.m.

Kansas City at Los Angeles Dodgers, 6:15 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Texas, 8:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Colorado, 8:10 p.m.

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

Oakland at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Arizona, 9:10 p.m.

Sunday, July 9 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

Houston at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

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

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

Atlanta at Washington, 12:35 p.m.

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

Baltimore at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

New York Mets at St. Louis, 1:15 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Texas, 2:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

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

Oakland at Seattle, 3:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Los Angeles Angels, 3:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Arizona, 3:10 p.m.

Detroit at Cleveland, 7 p.m.