Avila Lifts Cubs Past Pirates, Cardinals Down Padres

By ESPN

On a tough night for hitters in both lineups, Alex Avila didn't need to hit the ball hard to get the Cubs on the board. As it turned out, his broken-bat liner into the right-field corner was the only right-place, right-time shot of the game.

Avila flared an RBI triple in the ninth inning, capping a duel between Jose Quintana and Gerrit Cole and lifting Chicago over the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 on Wednesday.

Avila's hit against Daniel Hudson (2-6) left the bat at just 75 mph, but with Pittsburgh's outfielders shifting the other way, pinch-runner Leonys Martin had plenty of time to score from second base.

"Not many," Avila answered when asked how many broken-bat triples he's had in his career. "I haven't broken many bats (at all)."

It was Chicago's third hit of the game after Cole limited Chicago to two knocks over eight innings, one of which was an infield single. Cole struck out eight and walked four while turning in his second scoreless outing in three starts.

"Cole pretty much had no-hit stuff," Avila said. "You just had a feeling that we weren't going to have many opportunities against him. If he made a mistake, we weren't able to capitalize on it. He had unbelievable stuff. Just try to outlast him and keep the game where it was until we got into their bullpen and see if we got an opportunity there."

The Pirates had runners aboard in all six innings against Quintana, but were unable to come through with a big hit. In the fifth inning, third baseman Kris Bryant made a leaping stab of Jordy Mercer's line drive with two men on to save a run. Then in the sixth, the Pirates had two men on with no outs before Quintana got Jose Osuna to ground into a double play and a grounder from Sean Rodriguez to end the inning.

"It was just a tough ballgame," Cole said. "We lined out so many times. It's just unfortunate."

Quintana finished with six strikeouts and had to scramble to keep pace with Cole.

"My mind was, keep the game close," Quintana said. "He threw a really good game."

Wade Davis struck out two during a perfect ninth for his 29th save, preserving a win for Pedro Strop (4-4) and ending Pittsburgh's four-game winning streak.

Cardinals 3, Padres 1

After a shaky major league debut, Jack Flaherty found his footing for St. Louis.

Stephen Piscotty made sure it counted in the Cardinals' quest for an NL wild card.

Flaherty threw five innings of one-run ball, Piscotty hit a two-run homer and the streaking Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 on Wednesday night.

St. Louis has won four straight and six of seven. Piscotty hit his ninth homer in the seventh -- only the Cardinals' third hit to that point -- and St. Louis tacked on an unearned run in the eighth on Harrison Bader's sacrifice fly.

Flaherty, the Cardinals' top draft pick in 2014, was making his second start in the majors. This one went smoother after the 21-year-old worked four innings in his debut against the Giants, tagged for five runs and eight hits on Friday.

"I felt more comfortable out there today," Flaherty said. "I was able to use my pitches and get ahead of them. I felt like I executed better."

The right-hander pitched five innings and scattered three hits and four walks against the Padres. He struck out four with his 86 pitches. Among his few mistakes was an 87 mph changeup that Yangervis Solarte hit for a homer.

"I thought he just had better rhythm," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "The fastball was well-located, but the slider was really good. He's got good stuff and it's going to be fun to watch him continue."

Three Cardinals relievers blanked the Padres over four innings, with Tyler Lyons pitching a wobbly ninth for his second save. The Padres had the tying runs aboard with no outs before Lyons retired three straight. Ryan Sherriff (1-1) got the win.

Dinelson Lamet (7-7), who lost a pitching duel to the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw in his previous outing, stymied the Cardinals through six innings, giving up just one hit. Then Jose Martinez led off the seventh with a sharp single, and Piscotty followed with his two-run blast. When Lamet then walked Greg Garcia, his night was done and he was charged with two runs and four walks. He struck out eight.

"He was really good," Green said. "If we were to win that game we'd need more offense, but Lamet's doing his job."

For Lamet, who made his debut in May, it was still another positive step as he establishes himself as a foundational piece for the rotation. It marked the ninth straight outing in which he's allowed three runs or fewer.

"That was some of the best stuff we had seen all year," Matheny said.

Solarte made Flaherty pay for his miscue in the fourth inning. He poked his career-high 16th home run to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. It was Solarte's third career homer against the Cardinals and the first since his walk-off shot against the Dodgers on Saturday.

Indians 5, White Sox 1

In a season where the Cleveland Indians hope to get one more win than last year, the team has a chance to take its best stretch of baseball farther than a year ago.

Carlos Carrasco was the latest Indians starter to shine with a complete game dismantling of the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night, and the 5-1 victory was Cleveland's 14th straight win.

The streak is MLB's longest this season and the Indians have a chance to set a franchise record with 15 straight on Thursday in Chicago, which would top last season's run of 14 by the eventual American League champions who lost the World Series in Game 7 to the Chicago Cubs.

The win also was the team's 10th straight on the road and would have been a shutout if not for Adam Engel's line drive home run with two outs in the ninth inning.

"I was trying to go deep into the game so I can save the bullpen," Carrasco said, after the bullpen pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings on Tuesday. "And there's a lot of energy right now when we play good."

Carrasco (14-6) allowed three hits, facing 28 batters with 97 pitches in his eighth career complete game. The right-hander said all five of his pitches were working, as he threw 76 strikes.

"He was able to throw all of his pitches for strikes early in the count and then put guys away with sliders," catcher Roberto Perez said. "He got pretty much ahead of everybody. He was awesome."

Carlos Santana hit a two-run home run to cap a three-hit night as Cleveland added three runs in the eighth inning to break open a 1-0 game.

After not allowing a hit through four innings, the White Sox had leadoff singles in the fifth and sixth innings off Carrasco, but Avisail Garcia and Kevan Smith were both doubled off on the next at-bat.

Carrasco struck out nine and did not allow a walk. Through his last six starts, Carrasco is 4-1 with a 1.69 ERA.

"I think there's games, maybe not a ton over the course of a year, where you have everything, where it just falls into place," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "You have a lot of other games where you have some of it, and you've got to kind of figure out and maneuver your way through a lineup. Tonight, everything was working for him."

Rookie right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (0-3) stranded eight runners in six innings, and allowed a run on Tyler Naquin's sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

The Indians have scored first in each of their wins during the streak.

"They're very, very good, obviously very balanced," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "They're an excellent major league baseball team, again proving why they're one of the best teams in baseball."

Wednesday, September 6 Scoreboard

Cincinnati 7, Milwaukee 1

Minnesota 10, Tampa Bay 6

Texas 12, Atlanta 8

Oakland 3, Los Angeles Angels 1

Chicago Cubs 1, Pittsburgh 0

Boston 6, Toronto 1

Kansas City 13, Detroit 2

New York Mets 6, Philadelphia 3 (F/6)

Washington 8, Miami 1

Atlanta 5, Texas 4

Cleveland 5, Chicago White Sox 1

San Francisco 11, Colorado 3

Houston 5, Seattle 3

Arizona 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 1

St. Louis 3, San Diego 1

New York Yankees at Baltimore, postponed

Thursday, September 7  Schedule (All Times Central)

New York Yankees at Baltaimore, 12:35 p.m.

Philadelphia at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

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

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

Miami at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

Cleveland at Chicago White Sox, 7;10 p.m.

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

St. Louis at San Diego, 8:10 p.m.

Colorado at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9;10 p.m.

Friday, September 8 Schedule (All Times Central)

Philadelphia at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Detroit at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

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

Baltimore at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

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

Miami at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

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

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

San Francisco at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

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

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

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

Houston at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

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

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

Saturday, September 9 Schedule (All Times Central)

Baltimore at Cleveland, 12:05 p.m.

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

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

Houston at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

Detroit at Toronto, 3:07 p.m.

Philadelphia at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

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

San Francisco at Chicago White Sox, 6:10 p.m.

Miami at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

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

Minnesota at Kansas City, 6:15 p.m.

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

Houston at Oakland, 6:30 p.m.

San Diego at Arizona, 7:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Seattle, 8:10 p.m.

Colorado at Los Angeles Dodgers, 8:10 p.m.

Sunday, September 10 Schedule (All Times Central)

Detroit at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

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

Tampa Bay at  Boston, 12:35 p.m.

Miami at Atlanta, 12:35 p.m.

Philadelphia at Washington, 12:35 p.m.

San Francisco at Chicago White Sox, 1:10 p.m.

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

Pittsburgh at St. Louis, 1:15 p.m.

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

New York Yankees at Texas, 2:05 p.m.

Houston at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

Colorado at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Seattle, 1:10 p.m.

San Diego at Arizona, 3:10 p.m.

Baltimore at Cleveland, 7 p.m.