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SPORTS A21
Thursday 17 September
NL Capsules
Cubs top Pirates 2-1 to
earn doubleheader split
The Associated Press opponents, and the Marlins ers. Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jon Lester (34) delivers during
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jon Les- stopped the Mets’ eight- St. Louis has won consecu- the fifth inning of the second baseball game of a doubleheader
ter limited the Pittsburgh Pi- game winning streak. tive games following a 2-8 against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Sept. 15,
rates to five hits while pick- Mets nemesis Dee Gordon skid and increased its lead 2015.
ing up his first complete homered and had four hits in the NL Central to three
game of the season and to back Tom Koehler, who games over second-place Associated Press
the Chicago Cubs earned plunked Yoenis Cespedes Pittsburgh.
a doubleheader split with a in the first inning and then Kevin Siegrist (7-1) pitched
2-1 win on Tuesday night. helped silence the streak- the ninth and Trevor Rosen-
The Pirates took the first ing slugger the rest of the thal the 10th for his 44th
game 5-4 when Pedro Flo- way. save.
rimon scored on Starling New York’s commanding Carlos Martinez matched a
Marte’s sacrifice fly in the lead in the NL East was season high by going eight
eighth, but they couldn’t trimmed to 8 1/2 games innings. He struck out nine
complete the sweep as the over Washington, which and gave up one earned
Cubs pulled back within beat Philadelphia 4-0. The run and four hits, as the
four games of Pittsburgh for magic number remained team improved to 16-4 in
the top spot in the NL wild- 10 for the Mets to clinch his last 20 starts.
card race. their sixth division title. Milwaukee lost its fourth
Lester (10-10) walked one Christian Yelich had three straight game and has
and struck out nine while hits and two RBIs following just 10 victories in its last 36
picking up his 12th career a surprise meeting with his home games against St.
complete game. David “Saturday Night Live” dop- Louis.
Ross and Javier Baez had pelganger, and Justin Bour Matt Carpenter led off the
two hits each for the Cubs. also had three hits and two 10th and reached on an
J.A. Happ (9-8) had his five- RBIs. error on by first baseman
game winning streak end. BRAVES 3, BLUE JAYS 2 Adam Lind. With one out,
Happ pitched in and out of ATLANTA (AP) — Andrelton Heyward connected off
trouble, allowing two runs Simmons’ tiebreaking RBI Tyler Thornburg (0-2) for his
on eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. single in the ninth inning 12th homer.
Aramis Ramirez had two snapped a 12-game home
hits but Pittsburgh’s rejig- losing streak and the Braves DIAMONDBACKS 6, PADRES
gered lineup mustered little beat the AL East-leading 4
against Lester. Blue Jays. PHOENIX (AP) — A.J. Pol-
NATIONALS 4, PHILLIES 0 Toronto began the night lock’s three-run homer led
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ste- with a three-game lead the Diamondbacks to a
phen Strasburg gave up over the New York Yankees, victory over the Padres.
one hit and equaled a ca- but the Blue Jays, despite Pollock drove the first pitch
reer-best with 14 strikeouts the majors’ best record from reliever Kevin Quack-
in eight dominant innings since the All-Star break, enbush into the left-field
and Bryce Harper hit two have lost two straight. seats. Quackenbush had
homers as the Nationals The Braves ended the lon- just entered the game for
beat the Phillies. gest home skid in franchise losing pitcher Bud Norris (1-
Strasburg (9-7) allowed history. They began the 2).
only a single to Cody As- game 14-46 overall since The Diamondbacks scored
che leading off the bot- July 8. five runs in the inning and
tom of the fifth — a hard Aaron Sanchez (7-6) took batted around off four Pa-
grounder to right field. He the loss, allowing four hits, dres relievers, spoiling a
has 27 strikeouts in his last one run and striking out good performance from
two starts. one in 1 1-3 innings. Padres starter Tyson Ross,
The hard-throwing righty Arodys Vizcaino (3-1) faced who struck out nine and al-
struck out the side twice the minimum in the ninth to lowed a run on four hits in
and fanned eight of the earn the win. six innings.
last 12 batters he faced. He Blue Jays sluggers Josh Randall Delgado (6-4) got
was still firing 96 mph fast- Donaldson and Jose Bau- the win in relief, ending the
balls in the eighth. Blake tista went a combined 0 seventh with a strikeout of
Treinen tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for 8 with four strikeouts. Wil Myers, the only batter
to complete the shutout. First baseman Edwin En- he faced.
The Nationals have won carnacion, Toronto’s other Down 3-1, the Diamond-
three straight, but it’s seems big bat, missed his second backs cut the lead to one
too late to catch the NL straight game with an in- on a run-scoring triple
East-leading New York jured finger. by Nick Ahmed. The ball
Mets. CARDINALS 3, BREWERS 1 bounced under left fielder
MARLINS 9, METS 3 MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jason Justin Upton’s glove and
NEW YORK (AP) — Jacob Heyward hit a line drive went to the wall. Then af-
deGrom was hit hard dur- two-run homer in the 10th ter Norris walked pinch hit-
ing a rare dud at home inning to lead the Cardinals ter Aaron Hill, Pollock hit his
against one of his favorite to a victory over the Brew- home run.q
