Schwarber Hits Two HRs In Cubs Win, Cardinals Drop Game To Brewers

By ESPN

The Chicago Cubs are piling up runs and wins. And they're having some laughs along the way.

Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs, Ian Happ and Anthony Rizzo also went deep to back Jose Quintana, and the Cubs pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates 17-3 on Wednesday night.

Chicago tied a season high for runs set against Philadelphia on Saturday and banged out 20 hits to match its highest total since May 12, 2014, at St. Louis. The Cubs (72-60) outscored the Pirates 27-5 in a three-game sweep and moved 12 games above .500 for the first time this year. They also remained 3 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee for the NL Central lead.

The laughs came in the sixth inning.

Starling Marte made a rather easy catch on Happ's drive to the left-field corner , except the Cubs rookie didn't see the umpire's signal. He just sprinted toward third, but instead of a triple to complete the cycle, he made an easy out.

Watching from the video room, all Schwarber could do was laugh.

"He comes in, lays down, I go, `What are you doing?' `(Happ said), I didn't see the umpire make the out call," Schwarber said.

Happ helped stake Chicago to a 5-2 lead with an RBI single in the first and two-run drive off Ivan Nova in the third. Happ also had an RBI double.

As for the non-triple?

"It's tough to see down the line," he said. "I knew it was going to be in the corner. I didn't know if it was going to be against the wall or not. Marte tracked it down pretty easily. I was hauling."

Rizzo hit his 31st homer, scored three runs and drove in two. Schwarber came through with his second multihomer game of the season, with two-run drives in the fifth and seventh.

Javier Baez became the first Cubs player in seven years to steal home .

Quintana (5-3) held Pittsburgh to three runs and four hits in six innings. He retired 14 in a row after giving up two runs in the first and also had an RBI single.

Nova (11-12) lasted just three innings in his shortest outing of the year, allowing five runs (four earned) and three hits after getting roughed up in Cincinnati last week.

"I don't think it's mechanical," he said. "I left a lot of pitches over the plate, missing a lot on top of the plate. I've got to get the pitch down in the strike zone. They took good advantage."

Rizzo had just driven in Kris Bryant with a double off the left-field wall to break a 2-all tie in the third when Happ drove a two-run homer about two-thirds of the way up the right-field bleachers to push the lead to three. That gave the Cubs a club-record six players with 20 or more homers.

Chicago broke it open in the fifth, sending 10 batters to the plate. Baez had a two-run double and Schwarber finished the rally with his drive to left-center against A.J. Schugel.

Brewers 6, Cardinals 5

Pitcher Corey Knebel told center fielder Keon Broxton he owes him big time.

For good reason.

Domingo Santana and Jonathan Villar homered in the sixth inning, and Broxton made a leaping catch over the wall for the final out in the Milwaukee Brewers' 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

Knebel pitched the ninth for his 30th save. He allowed a leadoff single to Yadier Molina, struck out the next two batters, and then watched Broxton snag Randal Grichuk's deep blast to end the game.

"I wouldn't say it's the best one I've ever made, but it's definitely one of the most important ones I've made," Broxton said. "It's huge. It's everything. It's what every outfielder dreams of: making a catch like that in the bottom of the ninth to secure the win. It was a lot of fun, for sure."

Broxton replaced starting center fielder Hernan Perez with one out in the eighth as part of a double switch.

"I'm glad he was in there, for sure," Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. "Although Hernan Perez says he would've made the play."

Chase Anderson (8-3) gave up two hits -- both homers -- in six innings, three earned runs, struck out six and walked two to improve to 4-0 in nine starts at Miller Park this season.

Santana hit his 22nd homer of the season and Villar's was his 10th, giving Milwaukee a franchise-record nine players with at least 10 homers in a season.

St. Louis fell 2 1/2 games behind the second-place Brewers in the NL Central despite two home runs from Tommy Pham, who has 19 on the season.

Carlos Martinez (10-10), who entered the game 3-0 in his past four starts, allowed 10 hits, six runs -- three earned -- and struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings.

Milwaukee won for the 10th time in its past 15 games by scoring three times in the sixth. Santana led off with an opposite-field homer to right, Stephen Vogt reached when his ground ball went through the legs of third baseman Matt Carpenter and Villar followed with another opposite-field shot to left for a 6-3 lead.

Grichuk hit his 17th homer in the fifth and St. Louis manager Mike Matheny thought he had another in the ninth.

"It was a good play, a good at-bat, too," Matheny said. "Off the bat, I thought that ball was far enough, but he made a great play out there."

Twins 11, White Sox 1

Jose Berrios demonstrated why the Minnesota Twins are surprise contenders for the postseason one year after losing 103 games.

Berrios pitched seven scoreless innings, Brian Dozier had four hits and Eddie Rosario homered twice as the Twins defeated the Chicago White Sox 11-1 on Wednesday night.

Berrios (12-6) tied a career high with 11 strikeouts, including seven of the last nine batters he faced. He walked one and gave up just four hits to win his seventh straight start at Target Field.

"I'm a competitor. I like striking out batters, and I like doing it as much as I did it today," Berrios said through an interpreter. "It makes me feel accomplished, like I did a good job out on the mound."

The Twins have used a 19-10 surge in August to climb into playoff position and pulled within a game of the Yankees for the AL's top wild card spot.

Berrios has been a big part of Minnesota's quick recovery from a pitiful 2016 campaign that included a team record for losses in a season. Last year Berrios was just getting his feet wet in the majors, going 3-7 with an 8.02 ERA in 14 starts. He began this season at Triple-A, but he's been one of the Twins' top two starters since he joined the big league club in May.

"To put together the season he has, given the fact that he wasn't even here all year -- he's up to 12 wins and striking out almost a batter per inning, he's keeping his walks down, batting average against, all the things you're looking for," Twins manager Paul Molitor said.

Chicago's only real threat came in the fourth, when Berrios hit Jose Abreu with a pitch, gave up a broken-bat single to Avisail Garcia and walked Omar Narvaez to load the bases with two outs. Berrios struck out Tim Anderson on three pitches, the last a 96-mph fastball, to escape the jam.

Berrios had strong command of three pitches, including a curveball that resulted in six strikeouts and a four-seam fastball that he threw past four hitters for strike three.

"He's got options, and he's learning how to use them," Molitor said.

Mitch Garver and Ehire Adrianza each had three hits for the Twins. Adrianza tripled twice and drove in four runs, while Garver scored three runs and was a home run short of the cycle.

After Joe Mauer drove in Dozier with a double in the first inning, Rosario came up big in the third to give the Twins a 3-0 lead. With a runner on and two outs, Rosario lifted a fastball from Derek Holland (7-14) into a stiff breeze blowing in from left, and the ball just cleared the fence.

He left no doubt on his second homer, a blast to center field leading off the seventh against reliever Mike Pelfrey. It was Rosario's third multi-homer game of the year and gave him a career-high 20 home runs on the season.

Wednesday, August 30 Scoreboard

Atlanta 9, Philadelphia 1

Cleveland 2, New York Yankees 1

Milwaukee 6, St. Louis 5

Baltimore 8, Seattle 7

Detroit 6, Colorado 2

Atlanta 5, Philadelphia 2

Washington 4, Miami 0

Cleveland 9, New York Yankees 4

Texas 8, Houston 1

Boston 7, Toronto 1

New York Mets 2, Cincinnati 0

Chicago  Cubs 17, Pittsburgh 3

Minnesota 11, Chicago White Sox 1

Tampa Bay 5, Kansas City 3

San Diego 5, San Francisco 0

Arizona 6, Los Angeles Dodgers 4

Los Angeles Angels 10, Oakland 8

Thursday, August 31 Schedule (All Times Central)

New York Mets at Cincinnati, 11:35 a.m.

Chicago White Sox at Minnesota, 12:10 p.m.

Texas at Houston, 12:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona, 2:40 p.m.

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

Toronto at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

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

Washington at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

St. Louis at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.

Friday, September 1 Schedule (All Times Central)

Cleveland at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

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

Boston at New York Yankees, 6 p.m.

Toronto at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

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

Tampa Bay at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Washington at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

Oakland at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

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

St. Louis at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.

New York Mets at Houston, postponed

Saturday, September 2 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

New York Mets at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

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

Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego, 2:40 p.m.

St. Louis at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 5:10 p.m.

Toronto at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

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

Washington at Milwaukee, 6:10 p.m.

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

Philadelphia at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Texas, 6:15 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 7:10 p.m.

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

Oakland at Seattle, 8:10 p.m.

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

Sunday, September 3 Schedule (All Times Central)

Cleveland at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 12:10 p.m.

Toronto at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 12:35 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Chicago White Sox, 1:10 p.m.

Washington at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

New York Mets at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

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

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

Arizona at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

St. Louis at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m.

Oakland at Seattle, 3:10 p.m.

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

Boston at New York Yankees, 6:30 p.m.