Rally Cat Leads Cardinals To Win, Cubs Drop Game To Giants

By ESPN

The Rally Squirrel became the St. Louis Cardinals' unofficial mascot during their 2011 World Series championship run.

On Wednesday night, the Rally Cat was born.

Yadier Molina blasted a grand slam into the left-field seats one pitch after a cat ran onto and across the field in the sixth inning, helping the Cardinals rally to beat the Kansas City Royals 8-5.

"It's amazing," Molina said. "You see some animal coming through a field. You expect people to jump on the field but you never expect an animal. It was fun."

The win was the third straight for the Cardinals against the Royals and the fifth straight overall. The Royals have lost eight of their past 10 overall.

Molina's big blast -- after a little help from a friendly feline -- made the difference on a night the teams combined for 13 runs and 26 hits.

"I'm not a cat person but I sure liked that one," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

The Cardinals loaded the bases off Royals relievers Brandon Maurer and Peter Moylan. Molina was at the plate, with two outs, when the cat came onto the field and ran toward the center-field wall.

"I heard the crowd erupt and I thought there must have been something on the scoreboard," Moylan said. "I turned around and there's a kitten running around, which is the first time that's happened to me."

On the next pitch, Molina drilled his 14th homer of the season into the left-field seats for his fifth career slam.

"I left a pitch over the middle of the plate and I paid for it," Moylan said.

Melky Cabrera hit his 15th home run, a two-run shot that had given the Royals a 5-4 lead in the fifth.

Whit Merrifield had four hits for the Royals, who opened the game with four straight hits off Mike Leake and took a 2-0 lead on an RBI double from Lorenzo Cain and RBI single by Cabrera.

Merrifield made it 3-0 when he scored on Molina's throwing error in the second.

The Cardinals scored twice in the second, on an RBI sacrifice bunt from Leake and an RBI single from Matt Carpenter, and then tied the game on Jedd Gyorko's RBI single in the third.

Jose Martinez gave St. Louis a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning with his ninth homer.

Leake, the Cardinals' starter, allowed five runs on 11 hits in five innings. Royals starter Trevor Cahill lasted just 2⅓ innings, allowing three runs on four hits and walking five.

Matt Bowman (3-4) earned the win. Maurer (1-5) took the loss.

Trevor Rosenthal closed out the ninth inning for his ninth save.

Giants 3, Cubs 1

Madison Bumgarner admits at times he wondered whether he would make a complete recovery from injuries sustained in a dirt biking accident.

He looked like his old self against the Chicago Cubs.

Bumgarner allowed four hits over seven innings to win for the second time since returning from the disabled list, helping the San Francisco Giants defeat the Cubs 3-1 Wednesday and complete a winning homestand for only the second time this season.

"Obviously there's going to be some times when doubt creeps in," Bumgarner said. "It's just like anything else, you've got to deal with it. You can't try to push it aside, you can't try to trick yourself, you just try to deal with it."

Bumgarner (2-5) struck out seven, walked one and gave up five hits -- including a third-inning home run by Albert Almora Jr. Bumgarner is 2-2 with a 2.52 ERA in five starts since returning July 12 after missing nearly three months because of injuries sustained April 20. Since beating Pittsburgh on July 25, he did not get a decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers and lost to Arizona.

The 2014 World Series MVP has a 1.38 ERA in his last four starts and has received two runs or fewer of support in seven of 10 starts this year.

"I just think he's shown what he's really about with the way he's thrown the ball because we know how good he is, but still, that was a pretty serious injury that he had to overcome," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

Hunter Strickland pitched a one-hit eighth and Sam Dyson completed the six-hitter with a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

San Francisco won two of three against the NL Central-leading Cubs and has won consecutive home series for the first time since May. The Giants went 5-3 on a homestand that included a two-game split against Oakland and two wins in three games against Arizona. The Giants went 5-2 against Cincinnati and the Dodgers from May 11-17.

Joe Panik hit an RBI single in the second, Jarrett Parker had a tiebreaking single in the seventh against Brian Duensing (0-1) and Hunter Pence hit an opposite-field homer to right-center in the eighth against Pedro Strop.

Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks gave up one run, five hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings.

"I had a good fastball in the first inning and it started to come back late, in the middle it was all over the place, I just had to battle. I had no fastball command," Hendricks said.

White Sox 7, Astros 1

 For much of the season, Tim Anderson has been struggling to duplicate the promise he showed last year as a rookie.

He's finally starting to feel he's making progress.

Anderson homered and drove in three runs, Miguel Gonzalez tossed eight strong innings and the Chicago White Sox beat the Houston Astros 7-1 on Wednesday night, their second straight win over the team with the best record in the AL.

"I'm just really being more relaxed and just letting it happen," said Anderson, who is now batting .242 with 11 homers. "It's not like I have to force the issue.

"I'm playing like myself."

Leury Garcia and Yolmer Sanchez each had two-run singles as Chicago won consecutive games for just the second time since last month's All-Star break.

Gonzalez (6-10) allowed one run on five hits to record the 50th win of his career. He bounced back after getting shelled for seven runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings against Boston last Thursday.

"I was trying not to think about it," Gonzalez said. "It's definitely not easy because as starters we have four days to think about what we have to do to get better."

Derek Fisher homered leading off the eighth for Houston's only run. George Springer went 1 for 4 in his return from the 10-day disabled list. The Astros have dropped three of four overall and four straight on the road.

"The results, obviously, are going to be tough on our guys, but I've always liked our approach," manager A.J. Hinch said. "All in all, it wasn't a good night."

Chicago rookie Yoan Moncada went 1 for 2 with two walks and has reached safely in 14 of his last 25 plate appearances.

Houston starter Colin McHugh (0-1) escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second inning, but Chicago broke through for four runs in the fifth.

Nicky Delmonico led off with a single and Anderson followed with a homer to make it 2-0. The next batter, Omar Narvaez, kept the rally going with a single and one out later Garcia hit a ground-rule double to put runners on second and third. Sanchez then singled to left to score both runners for a 4-0 lead.

The White Sox tacked on three runs in the sixth -- highlighted by Anderson's run-scoring double -- to knock out McHugh. He allowed seven runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Gonzalez's only rough inning was the second, when he faced runners on second and third with one out. But he got Brian McCann to fly out to shallow right and struck out Fisher looking.

Jersey To Change On Players Weekend

The New York Yankees have famously stuck with various traditions throughout their long history, including this one: They are the only team among the major North American pro sports leagues whose players have never worn their names on their jerseys.

But that is about to change.

MLB announced Wednesday the details of Players Weekend, which will take place on Aug. 25 through 27. The promotion will include new uniforms, with most players -- including those on the Yankees -- wearing nicknames instead of their last names.

The Players Weekend program has several unusual uniform-related components. Here's a detailed look, going one element at a time:

1. New jerseys and caps. All 30 MLB teams will wear bright-colored jerseys with contrasting sleeves. The jerseys will be pullovers, not button-fronts. There will also be a new set of bright-colored caps, many of which feature either slight modifications to the teams' familiar cap logos or, in some cases, new logos that have never appeared on a cap before. The Phillies' cap, for example, features a blue Liberty Bell.

2. The nicknames. Players have been encouraged but not required to wear nicknames rather than their surnames. It's not yet clear how many will play along, but several teams have already posted tweets indicating that most of their players are on board.

3. The MLB logo. Players Weekend is scheduled to coincide with the culmination of the Little League World Series, so the jerseys and caps will feature a new logo that shows a player's evolution from youth to adulthood. The design draws inspiration from the Little League and MLB logos.

4. The sleeve patch. The new logo will also be featured on a "Thank You" sleeve patch that will appear on every jersey. The patch includes a blank space on the bottom where the player can write in the name of a mentor or other important figure who helped him achieve his dream of playing in the big leagues.

5. The socks. Players who choose to cuff their pants up high will reveal a new sock pattern. The design, which will be the same for all 30 teams, is as bold and colorful as the jerseys and caps:

In addition, the usual color restrictions on shoes, batting gloves, compression sleeves and other accessories will be relaxed, allowing players to express themselves a bit more. The move is reminiscent of the NFL's decision to allow custom-painted cleats during Week 13 of the 2016 season.

In addition to being worn on Aug. 25-27, the new uniforms will also be worn on Aug. 20 when the Cardinals and Pirates face off in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series.

Wednesday, August 9 Scoreboard

Colorado 3, Cleveland 2 (F/12)

Texas 5, New York Mets 1

Seattle 6, Oakland 3

Los  Angeles Angels 5, Baltimore 1

San Francisco 3, Chicago Cubs 1

Boston 8, Tampa Bay 2

Washington 10, Miami 1

New York Yankees 11, Toronto 5

Detroit 10, Pittsburgh 0

Cincinnati 8, San Diego 3

Philadelphia 3, Atlanta 2

Chicago White Sox 7, Houston 1

Minnesota 4, Milwaukee 0

St. Louis 8, Kansas City 5

Los Angeles Dodgers 3, Arizona 2

Thursday, August 10 Schedule (All Times Central)

San Diego at Cincinnati, 11:35 a.m.

Pittsburgh at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Miami at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

New York Mets at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

New York Yankees at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Cleveland at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Kansas City at St. Louis, 6:15 p.m.

Houston at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Minnesota at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Baltimore at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Friday, August 11 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

San Francisco at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

New York Mets at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Minnesota at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Colorado at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Houston at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Kansas City at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

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

Chicago Cubs at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Baltimore at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

San Diego at Los Angeles Dodgers, 9:10 p.m.

Saturday, August 12 Schedule (All Times Central)

Pittsburgh at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

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

Minnesota at Detroit, 5:10 p.m.

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

San Francisco at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

New York Mets at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Kansas City at Chicago White Sox, 6:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Milwaukee, 6:10 p.m.

Colorado at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Atlanta at St. Louis, 6:15 p.m.

Houston at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Arizona, 7:10 p.m.

Baltimore at Oakland, 8:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Seattle, 8:10 p.m.

San Diego at Los Angeles Dodgers, 8:10 p.m.

Sunday, August 13 Schedule (All Times Central)

Pittsburgh at Toronto, 12:07 p.m.

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

Minnesota at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Colorado at Miami, 12:10 p.m.

San Francisco at Washington, 12:35 p.m.

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

Kansas City at Chicago White Sox, 1:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

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

Houston at Texas, 2:05 p.m.

Baltimore at Oakland, 3:05 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Seattle, 3:30 p.m.

San Diego at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3:30 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Arizona, 3:10 p.m.

Boston at New York Yankees, 7 p.m.