Wacha Pitches Cardinals To Win, Cubs Down Braves

By ESPN

When a dominant pitcher with a history of injuries appears to hit a wall late in the season for a contending team, it tends to raise alarm bells.

Michael Wacha silenced those concerns on Thursday night.

Wacha pitched six strong innings and Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 5-2.

The Giants were without staff ace Madison Bumgarner, a late scratch with flu symptoms, as they lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Wacha (10-7) gave up one run, four hits and two walks as he bounced back from a tough stretch. In his three previous starts he was 0-3 with a 10.22 ERA.

"I think everybody's hypersensitive and our antennas are up because he's had issues in the past health-wise," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "It's just a blip. He's been good all year, his stuff's been good all year. He just needs to trust the fact that you have a couple of games where the results aren't there but the stuff looks right. Don't put too much stock in that because everybody goes through that during the season."

Tommy Pham was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBI for St. Louis.

The Cardinals broke a scoreless tie in the top of the second when Grichuk hit a two-run homer off Giants starter Matt Cain (3-11).

Cain gave up two runs on seven hits in five innings after a disastrous outing in his last game. He gave eight runs in 2/3 of an inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.

"It was definitely nice to get back out there," Cain said.

Grichuk's 18th home run came on a 1-2 curveball Cain hung over the middle of the plate.

Five Cardinals relievers combined to allow one run over the final three innings with Seung Hwan Oh getting his 20th save.

The punchless Giants were coming off a 1-5 trip in which they scored 10 runs.

Brandon Crawford hit what initially was called a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth that was overturned by a 4-minute, 8-second video review, with umpires apparently ruling that fans reached over the brick wall in right field.

Crawford had to go back on the field, sent to second base with a double that scored Buster Posey.

"They're saying it was fan interference, they're wrong," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Terrible overturn there. Shocked all of us. It's a home run taken away from Craw."

Cubs 6, Braves 2

Kyle Hendricks felt so out-of-whack that he found himself simulating his pitching motion between pitches early on.

Despite a laundry list of things that felt wrong, Hendricks and the Chicago Cubs continued to do most everything right.

Hendricks turned in his fourth straight quality start and the Cubs ran their winning streak to four with a 6-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night.

Hendricks (6-4) allowed one earned run on five hits while striking out five and walking three in 6 2/3 innings as the reigning World Series champs maintained their 3 1/2-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central.

"From the start today it was one of those days," Hendricks said. "Uncomfortable. Felt weird. Command was terrible. My timing was off. I wasn't staying over the rubber well. Today really the guys just made the plays behind me and scored enough runs."

Jon Jay had four hits and Kris Bryant homered to lead the Cubs offense.

Bryant's two-run blast through a stiff wind in the sixth inning made him the first Cubs player to begin his career with three straight 25-homer seasons.

"Pretty crazy when you think of the history of this organization, to be the first to do that," Bryant said. "It is really cool, an honor. It feels good."

"That ball was really killed because that wind was stiff," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "That ball was really well struck."

Hendricks was backed by Brian Duensing, Carl Edwards and Justin Wilson, who combined on 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

Rookie left-hander Sean Newcomb (2-8) took the loss, allowing two runs on eight hits while striking out seven and walking three in five innings.

Pinch-hitter Lane Adams hit his second career home run to chase Hendricks with two outs in the seventh. The Braves other run off Hendricks in the fifth was unearned.

Twins 5, White Sox 4

Max Kepler took one for the team -- and wound up with a hop-off winner for the Minnesota Twins.

Kepler was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Twins rallied to beat the Chicago White Sox 5-4 Thursday for their fourth straight victory.

Trailing 4-3 entering their final at-bat at Target Field, the Twins came back and held their slim lead for the second AL wild-card spot. They completed a three-game sweep with their first game-ending HBP since current Minnesota manager Paul Molitor was plunked in the 10th at the Metrodome in 1996 to beat Kansas City.

"A win's a win. It's a good way to finish a good month for us," Molitor said.

And nope, Molitor said he didn't remember that game from 21 years ago.

Finishing with a major league-leading 20 wins in August, Minnesota won 20 games in a month for the 10th time in team history and second time in 25 seasons. The Twins went 20-7 in May 2015.

Pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza opened the ninth with a single to right off closer Juan Minaya (2-2). After a one-out walk, Eddie Rosario hit a tying single.

Joe Mauer then walked to load the bases and Jorge Polanco lined back to Minaya.

With the crowd on its feet, Minaya's first pitch hit Kepler in the shin for the winning run. Knocked to the ground, Kepler got up quickly and trotted to first.

"They come in all shapes and forms, but a walk-off's a walk-off," Kepler said. "We'll take it."

Closer Matt Belisle (1-2) got the win despite giving up the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth.

"It feels like something good's going to happen and if we don't win, they got lucky," Belisle said.

Alen Hanson homered earlier to put the White Sox ahead 4-3.

"Just wasn't meant to be," manager Rick Renteria said.

Both starters -- Chicago's Miguel Gonzalez and Minnesota's Bartolo Colon -- allowed three earned runs in six innings. Colon gave up 10 hits and struck out eight; Gonzalez gave up seven hits and fanned five.

Chicago, 4-19 in its last 23 road games, scored three runs on nine hits between the second and fourth innings, but left two runners on in each frame.

An RBI single by Rob Brantly and RBI double by Adam Engel gave Chicago a 2-0 lead in the second. Yolmer Sanchez singled home a run in the fourth for a 3-1 lead.

Polanco and Kepler had RBI doubles in the fifth to tie it at 3.

Thursday, August 31 Scoreboard

Cincinnati 7, New York Mets 2

Minnesota 5, Chicago White Sox 4

Houston 5, Texas 1

Arizona 8, Los Dodgers 1

New York Yankees 6, Boston 2

Toronto 11, Baltimore 8

Philadelphia 3, Miami 2

Chicago Cubs 6, Atlanta 2

Milwaukee 6, Washington 3

St. Louis 5, San Francisco 2

Friday, September 1 Schedule (All Times Central)

Cleveland at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Atlanta at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Boston at New York Yankees, 6 p.m.

Toronto at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.

Washington at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

Oakland at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

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

St. Louis at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.

New York Mets at Houston, postponed

Saturday, September 2 Schedule (All Times Central)

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

New York Mets at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

Atlanta at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego, 2:40 p.m.

St. Louis at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m.

Cleveland at Detroit, 5:10 p.m.

Toronto at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 6:05 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Chicago White Sox, 6:10 p.m.

Washington at Milwaukee, 6:10 p.m.

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

Philadelphia at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Texas, 6:15 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 7:10 p.m.

New York Mets at Houston, 7:10 p.m.

Oakland at Seattle, 8:10 p.m.

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

Sunday, September 3 Schedule (All Times Central)

Cleveland at Detroit, 12:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Miami, 12:10 p.m.

Toronto at Baltimore, 12:35 p.m.

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, 12:35 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Chicago White Sox, 1:10 p.m.

Washington at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

Kansas City at Minnesota, 1:10 p.m.

New York Mets at Houston, 1:10 p.m.

Atlanta at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 p.m.

Los Angeles Angels at Texas, 2:05 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

St. Louis at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m.

Oakland at Seattle, 3:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego, 3:40 p.m.

Boston at New York Yankees, 6:30 p.m.