Garcia Pitches Cards To Win, Cubs Beat Nationals

Jaime Garcia watched in wonder as teammate Brandon Moss launched a moonshot at Busch Stadium.

Garcia pitched seven sharp innings Thursday as the St. Louis Cardinals blanked the Philadelphia Phillies.

Later, Garcia wanted to rave about the 462-foot drive by Moss. It was the longest home run by a left-handed hitter in the history of new Busch Stadium, which opened in 2006.

"It was a bomb," Garcia said. "He hit it a long way."

Garcia also was impressive. The left-hander gave up just two hits, walked none and struck out five.

Garcia (2-2) threw 82 pitches, 61 for strikes.

"As far as stuff, it's been great," Garcia said. "I've just got to continue to build on that."

The Phillies were certainly impressed.

"Basically, he had us eating out of his hands," manager Pete Mackanin said. "He did everything you could ask a pitcher to do."

Stephen Piscotty drove in two runs and also made an outstanding catch in right field to help preserve the shutout.

Cubs 5, Nationals 2

Ben Zobrist had a piece of confetti stuck to his back as he stood in front of his locker, and there were a few more in the hallway outside of the lavish home clubhouse.

Welcome to Wrigley Field, where maintaining the supplies for the celebration room is one of Chicago's biggest concerns these days.

Kyle Hendricks pitched six scoreless innings, Zobrist drove in four runs and the Cubs beat the Washington Nationals 5-2 on Thursday in the opener of a four-game series between two of baseball's hottest teams.

"This is a really good team, and we play good baseball," Zobrist said, "and tonight was another good example of that."

Hendricks (2-2) allowed two hits, struck out four and walked two as Chicago began a 10-game homestand with its fourth consecutive win and eighth in nine games. Zobrist hit a two-run single in the fourth and a two-run homer in the eighth, helping the Cubs improve their major league-best record to 21-6 for their best start since they were 23-4 in 1907.

"It's pretty fun, I can tell you that," Hendricks said.

Reigning NL MVP Bryce Harper singled and walked twice against Hendricks, but the right-hander shut down the rest of Washington's lineup. Michael Taylor was stranded at second after a two-out double in the third for the Nationals' first hit.

Jayson Werth hit a long two-run homer in the ninth for Washington, which had won five of six, including a 13-2 victory at World Series champion Kansas City on Wednesday. Even with the loss, the Nationals have baseball's second-best record at 19-9.

"The worst overall game we've played in a while, but we were still in the ballgame," manager Dusty Baker said.

Red Sox 7, White Sox 3

The Red Sox got just enough big hits to pull out an ugly win and take two of three from the White Sox in a series matching first-place teams.

Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez and Jackie Bradley Jr. homered to lead Boston to a 7-3 victory over Chicago on Thursday night.

The AL East-leading Red Sox won for the ninth time in 11 games and took this series against the first-place team in the Central.

"This is a really good ballclub in here," Xander Bogaerts said. "We just battled. We had a tough game, two close games. Still, we blow it out a little bit late in the game. It's good to win the series."

This one was hardly a thing of beauty, with the teams combining to strand 21 runners and draw 16 walks. But the Red Sox came out on top in a game that lasted 3 hours, 57 minutes.

Pedroia had three hits, starting with a solo homer in the first. Ramirez connected leading off a two-run third against Erik Johnson (0-1).

Bradley made it 5-3 with his solo drive off Matt Albers in the sixth after Chicago had pulled within one.

David Ortiz capped a two-run eighth with an RBI double that boosted the lead to four, and reliever Matt Barnes (2-1) worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win.

Thursday, May 5 Scoreboard

St. Louis 4, Philadelphia 0

Cleveland 9, Detroit 4

Baltimore 1, New York Yankees 0 (F/10)

Toronto 12, Texas 2

Cincinnati 9, Milwaukee 5

Chicago Cubs 5, Washington 2

Boston 7, Chicago White Sox 3

Seattle 6, Houston 3

San Diego 5, New York Mets 3

Colorado 17, San Francisco 7

Friday, May 6 Schedule (All Times Central)

Washington at Chicago, 1:20 p.m.

Boston at New York, 6:05 p.m.

Oakland at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Los Angeles at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

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

Texas at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Arizona at Atlanta, 6:35 p.m.

Minnesota at Chicago, 7:10 p.m.

Seattle at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

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

Tampa Bay at Los Angeles, 9:05 p.m.

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

New York at San Diego, 9:40 p.m.    

Saturday, May 7 Schedule (All Times Central)

Boston at New York, 12:05 p.m.

Los Angeles at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

Texas at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

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

Washington at Chicago, 3:05 p.m.

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

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

Oakland at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Minnesota at Chicago, 6:10 p.m.

Arizona at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

Seattle at Houston, 6:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

New York at San Diego, 7:40 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Los Angeles, 8:05 p.m.

Sunday, May 8 Schedule (All Times Central)

Los Angeles at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

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

Texas at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at Cincinnati, 12:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 12:10 p.m.

Oakland at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m.

Arizona at Atlanta, 12:35 p.m.

Minnesota at Chicago, 1:10 p.m.

Seattle at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

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

Washington at Chicago, 1:20 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Los Angeles, 2:35 p.m.

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

New York at San Diego, 3:40 p.m.

Boston at New York, 7 p.m.