Cubs Sweep Cardinals With 4-3 Victory

By ESPN

Wade Davis bent over on the mound with his head resting in his arms. The All-Star closer thought Dexter Fowler's drive was headed for the iconic scoreboard at Wrigley Field, but Leonys Martin caught the ball on the warning track in center field.

Such is life these days for the rolling Chicago Cubs.

Jason Heyward hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh, Fowler's bid for another big homer came up just short and the Cubs swept the St. Louis Cardinals with a 4-3 victory on Sunday.

"Just an intense, intense baseball game," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.

Ben Zobrist drove in two runs and Kyle Schwarber hit his 27th homer as the NL Central-leading Cubs closed out a 6-3 homestand with their sixth consecutive victory. They stayed four games ahead of Milwaukee and increased their advantage over third-place St. Louis to six games.

Pedro Strop (5-4) worked a rocky seventh for the win and Davis got his 31st save in 31 chances. The right-hander also saved Saturday's 4-1 win.

"It seems like we're competing at a pretty good level," Davis said.

Chicago led 3-0 before Fowler hit a tying three-run homer off Jose Quintana with two out in the sixth, silencing the crowd of 37,242 on a warm, sunny day. The inning began with a double for Matt Carpenter that eluded a lunging Schwarber in left.

Fowler got one last chance to hurt his former team in the ninth. With a runner on first and two out, he put a good swing on a full-count pitch from Davis, but Martin tracked it down.

"I definitely sat back in my seat when I heard it get hit," Schwarber said. "But then we took a look at the wind and saw it was blowing in and we were able to make the catch there."

St. Louis went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base in its fourth loss in five games, damaging its chances of making the playoffs. Lance Lynn lasted just four innings, allowing five hits and three runs.

"We got beat this series. They beat us," Lynn said. "We didn't give away games, we got beat. So we've got to win the next one and the next and the next one and the next one and hope that these guys don't do that and the wild-card teams don't do that."

The Cubs' winning rally began when Anthony Rizzo was grazed on his sleeve by a pitch from Tyler Lyons (4-1). The play was originally ruled a ball, but then was overturned by a replay review.

Rizzo advanced to second on Javier Baez's pinch-hit single and took third when Ian Happ beat out a potential double-play grounder. Heyward then hit a two-out liner into left field against Matt Bowman, making it 4-3.

"You take any win you can get, but today was great to find a way to get it done with a close game," Heyward said.

St. Louis put runners on second and third with two out in the sixth, but Carl Edwards Jr. struck out Randal Grichuk to end the inning. Brian Duensing fanned Carpenter with the bases loaded for the final out of the eighth, punctuating the big pitch with an emphatic fist pump.

SITTING OUT

Chicago played without catcher Willson Contreras, who served a one-game suspension for his confrontation with umpire Jordan Baker in the fifth inning of Friday's 8-2 win in the series opener. Contreras was originally suspended for two games, but the punishment was reduced after he appealed.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (right elbow impingement) faced hitters before the game and said he was ready to come off the disabled list. Manager Mike Matheny liked what he saw but wasn't ready to commit to a timetable for Wainwright's return. "We haven't really talked about that yet," Matheny said. Wainwright, who was placed on the DL on Aug. 18, said he probably will pitch out of the bullpen initially when he returns. ... 2B Kolten Wong returned to the lineup after being sidelined by back spasms. Wong left in the seventh inning of Friday's 8-2 loss to the Cubs and rested on Saturday.

Cubs: There was no word on the next step for RHP Jake Arrieta (right hamstring strain), who threw 42 pitches in a bullpen session on Saturday. But he has been ruled out for Chicago's two games at Tampa Bay this week.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Following an off day, RHP Jack Flaherty (0-1, 6.08 ERA) makes his fourth major league start Tuesday night at Cincinnati. RHP Jackson Stephens (2-0, 2.38 ERA) pitches for the last-place Reds in the opener of a three-game series.

Cubs: Maddon returns to Tampa Bay when the Cubs begin a two-game set against the Rays on Tuesday night. Maddon managed Tampa Bay for nine years before he left after the 2014 season. "I'm really honestly looking forward to it," he said. "There's so many friends in that building."

Tigers 12, White Sox 0

Matthew Boyd showed little emotion when he lost a no-hit bit on Tim Anderson's two-out, ninth-inning double.

Boyd calmly retired Yoan Moncada to finish his first professional shutout in the Detroit Tigers' 12-0 rout of the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

"There was nothing I could change at that point," Boyd said. "I just had to keep attacking and finish off the game."

After retiring Adam Engel and pinch hitter Kevan Smith to start the ninth, Boyd fell behind Anderson 2-0, then threw a changeup low on the outside corner. Anderson sliced it to the opposite field, and it landed just short of the wall as right fielder Nicholas Castellanos gave chase.

"I executed my pitch, and he hit it," Boyd said.

Anderson was ready for an off-speed pitch.

"I was just kind of looking for something slow," he said. "I thought he might throw a changeup there because he'd been doing it to me all game."

Boyd (6-10) allowed only two runners: a walk to Rob Brantly in the third and Anderson's double. He struck out five and threw 121 pitches -- his big league high.

"That's the best slider he's had since he got here, and his other pitches were all good as well," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. "Obviously, you aren't going to throw a no-hitter for 8 2/3 innings without everything working."

The 26-year-old had not thrown a complete game in 52 previous major league starts and had never thrown a nine-inning complete game in 121 previous professional starts. His only previous complete games were an eight-inning three-hitter for Triple-A Toledo in a 1-0 loss to Durham in July and a seven-inning 3-1 win for Class A Dunedin over Daytona in 2014.

"When you get ready for the season, you train to pitch deep into October," Boyd said. "You shouldn't be tired in the middle of September."

Miami's Edinson Volquez has the only no-hitter in the majors this year, on June 3 against Arizona.

This was the sixth time this season that a no-hitter was broken up in the ninth inning or later -- and Boyd was the first pitcher to have his bid broken up with one out to go.

Castellanos was playing his 10th big league game in right field, a position he was moved to this month to let Jeimer Candelario play third base. MLB's Statcast system projected that Anderson's drive would result in a base hit just 29 percent of the time, based on its launch angle and exit velocity.

Anderson's hit went to an area between fielders, though, in the gap in right-center. MLB.com later clarified that the probability of Castellanos catching the ball was 1 percent, given where he was positioned.

Ausmus, who regularly used defensive replacements for Castellanos at third base, was angered when asked whether he had considered a change in right.

"That's a bad question because no one would have caught that ball, and if the hit doesn't go to right, no one even asks me about it," Ausmus said. "I've defended for Nick to win games. I'm not going to do it with a 12-0 lead."

Chicago, which has not been no-hit since 2011, broke up a bid by Colorado's Kyle Freeland in the ninth inning July 9.

"I wasn't even thinking about that," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "I just wanted to grab a bat."

Detroit hasn't had a no-hitter since Justin Verlander's on May 7, 2011, on Toronto.

Catcher Bryan Holaday, who debuted with the Tigers the next season, seemed more upset than Boyd about Anderson's hit.

"It is just as much of a dream for us as the pitchers because we're working together the whole game," he said.

Boyd, acquired in 2015 when the Tigers traded David Price to Toronto, was helped a couple times by fine defensive plays. Shortstop Dixon Machado went deep into the hole to field Avisail Garcia's second-inning grounder, and first baseman Efren Navarro made an over-the-shoulder catch of Anderson's foul pop in the sixth.

Chicago starter Dylan Covey (0-6) allowed five runs, seven hits and four walks in 3 2/3 innings.

Castellanos extended his hitting streak to a career-long 14 games with a two-run double in the third, and Mikie Mahtook's two-run homer off Chris Beck made it 7-0 in the fifth, leaving the focus squarely on Boyd.

Castellanos kept Detroit's offense rolling in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run homer, and Candelario's three-run shot in the eighth made it 12-0.

The crowd let out a roar when Boyd took the mound for the ninth. He retired Engel on a foul popup to third, and Smith grounded out to second. Three pitches later, Anderson silenced the crowd.

"No one wants to have a no-hitter thrown against their team," Avisail Garcia said.

Sunday, September 17 Scoreboard

Baltimore 6, New York Yankees 4

Cleveland 3, Kansas City 2

Detroit 12, Chicago White Sox 0

Cincinnati 5, Pittsburgh 2

Tampa Bay 3, Boston 2

New York Mets 5, Atlanta 1

Oakland 6, Philadelphia 3

Minnesota 13, Toronto 7

Houston 7, Seattle 1

Milwaukee 10, Miami 3

Chicago Cubs 4, St. Louis 3

San Diego 4, Colorado 3

Texas 4, Los Angeles Angels 2

San Francisco 7, Arizona 2

Washington 7, Los Angeles Dodgers 1

Monday, September 18 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

Boston at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

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

Milwaukee at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Oakland at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

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

Arizona at San Diego, 9:10 p.m.