Cardinals Blank Pirates, Brewers Sweep Cubs
Published on September 11 2017 6:22 am
Last Updated on September 11 2017 6:22 am
By ESPN
Yadier Molina's teammates could tell their All-Star catcher was not happy.
After taking a fastball from Ivan Nova high and tight, Molina hit the next pitch for a three-run homer to help the St. Louis Cardinal beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-0 on Sunday.
"Everyone knows don't mess with Yadi," St. Louis infielder Kolten Wong said. "After that, you could tell he's (ticked) off. He took it out on the baseball."
St. Louis, which has won three in a row and seven of eight, moved two games behind Chicago in the NL Central. The Cardinals are 2 1/2 behind Colorado for the second NL wild card.
Michael Wacha tossed eight scoreless innings and Randal Grichuk added a solo homer for St. Louis, which improved to 8-2 in September and moved to a season-high seven games over .500.
Molina tied a career-high with five RBI. He also drove in five runs on Sept. 17, 2010 against San Diego.
Pittsburgh dropped its fifth in a row and slumped to 10 games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2011 season.
Molina, who left without speaking to reporters, pushed the lead to 4-0 with his drive in the fourth inning. After dodging the errant pitch, he calmly stepped back into the batter's box and ripped his second round-tripper in as many games.
"I feel like he took offense to that," Wacha said of the inside pitch. "It was great to see."
Nova said he meant no harm.
"I'm not that type of pitcher," Nova said. "Just pitching (my) game."
Molina had an RBI single in the first and a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
"Big day, great at-bats all day," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "Talk about big hits, he did a great job."
Wacha (12-7) allowed five hits while striking out seven and did not walk a batter in getting his third win in three starts.
"It's that time of the year where you're trying to make the playoffs," Wacha said. "And every game matters. When it gets down to it, you compete your tail off and try and get the win."
The Cardinals' two-game deficit in the NL Central is the closest they've been since Aug. 18 when they were 1 1/2 back.
Nova gave up five runs and five in hits five innings. He struck out seven and walked two.
The Pirates were shut out for the eighth time this season.
Brewers 3, Cubs 1
The Milwaukee Brewers needed to sweep the Chicago Cubs, and they did.
Travis Shaw hit a two-run homer, Zach Davies earned his major league-best 17th win and the Brewers beat Chicago 3-1 Sunday to close within two games of the NL Central leaders.
"It's going to be a fun September," Davies said.
Chicago entered the series with a five-game division lead, a season high, but the defending World Series champions totaled three runs in the series. Milwaukee is tied for second in the NL Central with St. Louis.
Davies (17-8) allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings, Anthony Swarzak pitched a hitless eighth and Corey Knebel finished for his 34th save in 39 chances.
"He's a lot to handle for the hitters," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of Davies
Kyle Hendricks (6-5) gave up three runs and four hits in six innings.
"Kyle was outstanding today," Chicago manager Joe Maddon said. "We just were unable to string together any hits, and our power has been negated a bit."
Rene Rivera put the Cubs ahead with a two-out RBI double in the second. Right fielder Hernan Perez didn't break back at first, and the ball hit off his glove.
Stephen Vogt hit an RBI grounder in the fourth, and Shaw homered in the sixth -- despite a stiff wind blowing in from right field.
"Honestly, that's about as good as I can hit a ball," Shaw said. "I thought it went too high. I thought the wind was going to knock it down."
White Sox 8, Giants 1
Carson Fulmer doesn't know if his future with the Chicago White Sox is as a starting pitcher or a reliever.
Either way, the 23-year-old rookie will be happy to have Jose Abreu on his side.
Abreu connected for two home runs a day after hitting for the cycle and Fulmer earned his first major league win as a starter as the White Sox beat the San Francisco Giants 8-1 on Sunday in an interleague matchup of last-place teams.
Fulmer (2-1) allowed one run on three hits with nine strikeouts and three walks in the second start of his career. A first-round draft pick in 2015, he was tagged for six earned runs in 1 1/3 innings by Minnesota on Aug. 21 in his other start.
"Starting, relieving, as long as we win it's all that matters to me," Fulmer said. "You just have to be able to go into any situation and get your team out of it. I like to start games and go as long as I can, but that's up to (manager) Ricky (Renteria) and our management."
A day after hitting for the cycle in a 13-1 victory over the Giants, Abreu recorded his fourth multihomer game of the season and 10th of his four-year major league career.
Abreu had 18 total bases the last two games; the Giants had 14.
"This is as consistent an approach as I've seen from anybody in the big leagues," Renteria said. "He really, really continues to stay focused and in the zone."
Tim Anderson, who was a double shy of joining Abreu as the only pair of teammates ever to hit for the cycle in the same game on Saturday, got three more hits. The 24-year-old shortstop is batting .520 (13 for 25) in the last six games.
Bumgarner (3-8) gave up six earned runs and 10 hits in five innings -- the most runs and hits he's allowed in a game this season.
"I felt pretty good, honestly," Bumgarner said. "That's the frustrating part about it. I felt really good right from the get-go."
Jarrett Parker hit his third home run of the season in the second inning for the Giants. He missed the previous seven games with a strained oblique.
Sunday, September 10 Scoreboard
Toronto 8, Detroit 2
Cincinnati 10, New York Mets 5
Tampa Bay 4, Boston 1
Atlanta 10, Miami 8 (F/11)
Washington 3, Philadelphia 3
Chicago White Sox 8, San Francisco 1
Kansas City 11, Minnesota 3
St. Louis 7, Pittsburgh 0
Milwaukee 3, Chicago Cubs 1
New York Yankees 16, Texas 7
Oakland 10, Houston 2
Colorado 8, Los Angeles Dodgers 1
Los Angeles Angels 5, Seattle 3
Arizona 3, San Diego 2
Cleveland 3, Baltimore 2
Monday, September 11 Schedule (All Times Central)
Baltimore at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.
Detroit at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.
New York Yankees at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 6:40 p.m.
Seattle at Texas, 7:05 p.m.
Chicago White Sox at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.
Colorado at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.
Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco, 9;15 p.m.