Reds Blank Cardinals, Cubs Trounce Mets

By ESPN

The Cincinnati Reds bounced back from a lopsided loss to the St. Louis Cardinals with some strong pitching performances and timely hitting one night later.

Rookie right-hander Tyler Mahle tossed five innings, Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam and the Reds beat the Cardinals 6-0 on Wednesday night.

"Yesterday was ugly, there's no other way to describe that," Reds manager Bryan Price said of his team's 13-4 loss on Tuesday. "You hate to come here and play that poorly in the opener. So to go into this game with a rookie starting pitcher who gives you five scoreless, great shutdown pitching from the bullpen, solid defense and big hits in the fifth inning, it was phenomenal."

Jesse Winker added a home run and Joey Votto had two hits and drove in a run for the Reds, who had lost four of their last five games.

The Cardinals had won four straight and eight of nine.

Mahle (1-2) allowed four hits, striking out four and walking three in earning his first major league win. The right-hander, who was making his fourth career start, threw 100 pitches and was able to strand eight runners.

"Obviously those walks hang over my head and I hate walking guys," Mahle said. "Everyone does. But I was able to battle and guys were able to make great plays behind me and I battled through five."

Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty (0-1), also a rookie right-hander, allowed three runs and four hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two.

Winker, the Reds rookie right fielder, opened the game with his fifth homer of the season. Winker ended the first inning with a diving catch that saved a run.

The Reds scored five runs in the fifth, all coming with two outs, and all coming after the third out of the inning was overturned upon replay review.

"We were very, very close to getting out of that inning, keeping it a one-run game and then giving our offense a chance to get rolling," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong made a diving stop to snare a grounder from Zack Cozart. He flipped to second base for the third out, but replays showed Mahle beat the toss to the base.

"When he (DeJong) made that diving play I was already running hard so I was `Oh I might beat this out' and got lucky," Mahle said. "Lucky I was hustling."

Votto then smacked a bases-loaded single to left field off left-handed reliever Ryan Sherriff to make it 2-0. Suarez followed with a grand slam, his 25th homer of the season, into the Reds bullpen in left field to make it 6-0.

"I was just looking for something in my strike zone," Suarez said. "I just always want to put my best swing on it and that was the perfect pitch he threw me right there in my hitting spot and I put on my best swing and hit it so good."

The Reds bullpen backed Mahle's start with four innings from Kevin Shackelford, Michael Lorenzen and Luke Farrell. The Cardinals managed just one hit over the final five innings.

Cubs 17, Mets 5

Albert Almora Jr. spent most of the night watching from the dugout. Once he entered the game, he sure did make an impact.

Almora homered and drove in a career-high six runs after coming off the bench in the seventh inning, and the Chicago Cubs routed the New York Mets 17-5 on Wednesday.

Javier Baez also went deep and had four hits for the Cubs, who matched a season high for runs after pouring on 12 over their final three at-bats. They have outscored the Mets 25-8 the past two games.

It's just what the NL Central leaders needed after managing only three runs in a weekend sweep by Milwaukee that tightened the division race. Chicago remained 2 1/2 games ahead of the Brewers and moved three up on St. Louis.

"As a competitor, this is what we want to be in," Almora said. "Last year, I'm not complaining. ... But every game means something. I feel like from now until the end of the season it's a playoff game every game."

It sure hasn't been easy for the Cubs coming off a 103-win season that saw them win the division by 17 1/2 games and capture their first World Series crown since 1908. They looked as though they were just about ready to put away the Central race before Milwaukee came to town.

For much of the night, this wasn't exactly an easy game. But by the end, the score sure was lopsided.

Shaky early on, Jon Lester (11-7) regrouped to throw six solid innings and win his third straight start. The left-hander gave up two runs and six hits.

Mets starter Matt Harvey (5-5) lasted just 3 1/3 innings in his third start back from a right shoulder injury. He allowed five runs and seven hits.

"It's hard to take any positives out of the last two years for me," he said. "It's extremely frustrating. It's hard going out there and not doing what I can to help this team win. All in all, it's really frustrating. That's all you can say about tonight."

Kris Bryant had three hits and scored four runs for Chicago. Ben Zobrist also scored four times.

Willson Contreras had two hits and three RBI for the Cubs, who took a 6-2 lead into the seventh before things really got out of hand.

Baez led off with a homer . Almora, who entered in the top half, added a three-run drive to make it 10-2 and hit a bases-loaded triple during a seven-run eighth.

Jose Reyes homered leading off the game for New York, and Dominic Smith had a two-run drive in the eighth. But the Mets clinched their first losing record since 2014 after making the playoffs the past two years.

White Sox 5, Royals 3

Though Veterans Jose Abreu and Avisail Garcia came through in the ninth inning, there is no doubt the Chicago White Sox are looking more to the future.

Abreu and Garcia drove in runs in the ninth as the White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 5-3 Wednesday.

The White Sox took two of three at Kauffman Stadium, winning their first road series since June 16-18. While they have the worst American League record (58-87), they have won four of their past five games, hitting .360 with 26 extra-base hits and 40 runs in that span. They won a series in Kansas City for the first time since 2015.

Abreu's sacrifice fly scored Tim Anderson, who led off the inning with a single, took second on a wild pitch by Scott Alexander (4-4) and stole third.

Garcia's single to center scored Yoan Moncada with the second run. Garcia is hitting an American League-leading .432 against left-handed pitchers.

"We never give up," Garcia said. "We always keep fighting. We never know what's going to happen. What we can control is giving our best."

Alexander was working for the fifth time in seven games, including throwing 17 pitches in a Tuesday save and 27 on Sunday. Manager Ned Yost said before the game Alexander was unavailable.

"They called down. I said I felt fine," Alexander said. "We're all tired. It's the same thing for everybody. We're all trying to be available."

The Royals, who entered three games behind Minnesota for the second AL wild card, tied the score at 3 in the eighth. Alcides Escobar singled in one run, while pinch runner Terrance Gore scored the other on an Alex Gordon groundout.

"Fortunately the damage was minimized and we were able to come out on top," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said.

Juan Minaya (3-2) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up the victory.

Adan Engel hit a two-run double in the second for Chicago, scoring Tyler Saladino and Kevan Smith. Engel has nine of his 20 RBI this season against the Royals.

After Royals starter Eric Skoglund retired the first two batters in the third, he gave up a double to Garcia, walked Matt Davidson and gave up an RBI single to Saladino.

The Royals loaded the bases with one out in the seventh but came away empty. Melky Cabrera flied out to center and Eric Hosmer grounded out to end the threat.

Skoglund lasted only three innings and 66 pitches, giving up three runs on five hits. He threw 6 1/3 innings of two-hit ball to beat Detroit 1-0 in his big league debut on May 30. Since then, Skoglund has given up 17 runs on 26 hits and 10 walks over 10 2/3 innings. He has a 14.34 ERA in four starts and one relief appearance.

White Sox starter Lucas Giolito yielded one run, a homer by Salvador Perez in the sixth inning, in 6 1/3 innings. Giolito has a 1.75 ERA and has held opposing batters to a .140 batting average in his past four starts.

The Royals will try to snap the Indians' AL record 21-game winning streak on Thursday in Cleveland.

"We're not worried about that," second baseman Whit Merrifield said. "We're just worried about playing better as a team. We're going to show up, and try to pitch, play defense, swing the bats and run the bases better than we have recently. If we do all those things, we like where we are."

Wednesday, September 13 Scoreboard

Cleveland 5, Detroit 3

New York Yankees 3, Tampa Bay 2

Chicago White Sox 5, Kansas City 3

Oakland 7, Boston 3

Atlanta 8, Washington 2

Philadelphia 8, Miami 1

Baltimore 2, Toronto 1

Chicago Cubs 17, New York mets 5

Seattle 8, Texas 1

Milwaukee 8, Pittsburgh 2

Minnesota 3, San Diego 1 (F/10)

Cincinnati 6, St. Louis 0

Arizona 8, Colorado 2

Los Angeles Dodgers 4, San Francisco 1

Los Angeles Angels 9, Houston 1

Thursday, September 14 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

Oakland at Boston, 12:35 p.m.

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

Colorado at Arizona, 2:40 p.m.

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

Atlanta at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Miami at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

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

Seattle at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

New York Mets at Chicago Cubs, 7:05 p.m.

Toronto at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

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

Friday, September 15 Schedule (All Times Central)

St. Louis at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

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

Los Angeles Dodgers at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Oakland at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Kansas  City at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

Boston at Tampa  Bay, 6:10 p.m.

New York Mets at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

Toronto at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Seattle at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Miami, 7:10 p.m.

San Diego at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

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

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

Saturday, September 16 Schedule (All Times Central)

Seattle at Houston, 12:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Washington, 12:05 p.m.

Baltimore at New York Yankees, 3:05 p.m.

St. Louis at Chicago Cubs, 3:05 p.m.

Kansas City at Cleveland, 3:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 3:10 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Boston at Tampa Bay, 5:10 p.m.

Oakland at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Toronto at Minnesota, 6:10 p.m.

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

Milwaukee at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

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

Arizona at San Francisco, 8:05 p.m.

Texas at Los Angeles Angels, 8:07 p.m.

Sunday, September 17 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

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

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

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, 12:10 p.m.

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

New York Mets at Atlanta, 12:35 p.m.

Oakland at Philadelphia, 12:35 p.m.

Toronto at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

Seattle at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Miami, 1:10 p.m.

St. Louis at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

San Diego at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

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

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

Los Angeles Dodgers at Washington, 7 p.m.