01-30-2019, 12:38 PM
For the Chicago Cubs Chris Wormley Jersey , the last few days have felt like Christmas in July.
The team has won five games in a row and will try to stretch it to six on Wednesday afternoon in a Fourth of July matinee.
“Everything is believable,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters when asked about his team’s recent hot streak. “We believe in everything right now. Santa Claus is absolutely true.
“When you get to that point and you get that kind of confidence, you don’t want to do anything to nick it.”
Chicago (48-35) has climbed 13 games above .500 to match its high-water mark. The Cubs have a chance to set a new high when they host the Detroit Tigers (38-49) in the finale of a two-game series at Wrigley Field.
All of the Cubs’ five wins during the streak have been in come-from-behind fashion.
“One of our concepts is to score first,” Maddon said. “One of our concepts is to win the inning. But I think this is maybe the residue of our starting pitching not being what it probably is. We’ve given up more runs early from our starters that we didn’t anticipate happening.
“But it’s a tightly knit group. They’re there to pick everybody else up. So, OK, they’ve scored a couple runs. There’s no quit. The chatter in the dugout is great, all that stuff is outstanding. I just think that the come-from-behind component right now is based on our starters not pitching to their capabilities yet.”
That said, the Cubs will look for a solid start from left-hander Jose Quintana (6-6, 4.31 ERA) in his 17th start of the season. The 29-year-old has allowed three earned runs or fewer in nine of his past 12 starts.
In 18 career starts against the Tigers Robert Griffin III Jersey , Quintana is 5-5 with a 4.37 ERA. The Colombia native has walked 26 and struck out 82 in 111 1/3 innings.
The Tigers will counter with veteran left-hander Francisco Liriano (3-4, 3.99 ERA), who is scheduled to make his 13th start of the season. The burly southpaw carries a career record of 105-103 with a 4.14 ERA in 335 career games.
More than a few teams could be scouting the 34-year-old Liriano as the trade deadline approaches. He is coming off a quality start against the Toronto Blue Jays but has not logged a victory since April 17 against the Baltimore Orioles.
In 14 career starts against the Cubs, Liriano is 5-4 with a 3.27 ERA. He most recently faced the club in 2016, when he posted an 0-2 record with a 7.63 ERA in three starts with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays.
The Tigers could turn to a six-man rotation in the next couple weeks, which is fine with Liriano.
“I think that would work,” Liriano said recently to mlive.com. “It wouldn’t bother me at all. I don’t know about any other guys. (Blaine) Hardy has been doing a great job, so it’s hard to put him in the bullpen with the way he’s throwing the ball right now. I think that’s a great idea.”
Injured Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant (shoulder) is not expected to play Wednesday. He is hitting .280 with nine home runs and 36 RBIs in 66 games this season.
Jhoulys Chacin settled down nicely after a rough start.
Trailing 2-0 after the first three batters of the game, Chacin threw seven solid innings and Hernan Perez homered among his three hits Mark Andrews Jersey , leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night in a matchup of first-place teams.
NL Central Division-leading Milwaukee won its fourth game in a row to go 17 games over .500 (52-35) for the first time since July 1, 2014, when the Brewers were 51-34.
Chacin (7-3) gave up three hits and two earned runs while matching a season high with seven strikeouts in what tied for his longest outing this year. The right-hander, who was 0-2 in his previous three starts while allowing 10 runs in 15 2/3 innings, retired 20 of the last 24 batters he faced.
”Jhoulys pitched excellent – after the first,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. ”He locked it in and made some really good pitches the rest of the night.”
Dan Jennings pitched two perfect innings for his first save this season, and second of his career.
NL East-leading Atlanta dropped its third consecutive game after winning four straight – and lost for the first time this season on a Thursday (7-1).
Braves left-hander Max Fried (1-3) lasted only three innings in his third start of the season, giving up four earned runs and four hits with three walks.
”He had a blister starting and he’s had a history of the blister thing,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. ”And when it kind of surfaced Eric Weddle Jersey , I decided I didn’t want to take any chances, so I shut him down.”
Atlanta gave Fried a 2-0 lead in the first, but he allowed a run in the bottom of the frame and did not help his cause in the second. After a leadoff triple by Perez and a walk to Keon Broxton, Milwaukee tied it at 2 on a single by Tyler Saladino. Fried failed to hold the runners on first and second by not even looking at them, so Broxton and Saladino converted a double steal. Erik Kratz’s groundout scored Broxton to give Milwaukee a 3-2 lead.
”We’re getting the right guys out there, trying to do our homework and find spots when we can take advantage of something,” Counsell said.
Then, Fried not only walked Chacin, he fired a wild pitch that bounced off the backstop on ball four. Catcher Tyler Flowers retrieved the ball and threw to Fried covering the plate. But Saladino – who appeared to be an easy out – slid awkwardly in front of the plate and knocked it out of the pitcher’s glove. Saladino got up and stepped on the plate for a 4-2 lead.
Perez hit a two-run homer – his fifth – off reliever Dan Winkler in the eighth.
MORE MOUND MISCUES
In the first Jonathan Ogden Jersey , Ozzie Albies scored from third on a grounder hit by Freddie Freeman. Chacin fielded the ball, looked at Albies and then slowly lobbed a high toss to first which allowed the speedster to score without a throw home. … In the eighth, Winkler’s pickoff attempt at first hit Jonathan Villar in the head and the ball ended up in Milwaukee’s dugout for an error. Villar took second and scored on a single by Christian Yelich.
FREEMAN STILL SLUMPING
In his previous nine games in Milwaukee, Freeman was hitting .419 (13-for-31) with six home runs and seven walks. But that did not end his slump, as he was 0 for 3 and is now batting .154 (10-for-65) in his last 16 games.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Braves: RHP Julio Tehran is not in Milwaukee after coming down with an illness while the team was in New York. Since he was not scheduled to start against the Brewers, the Braves sent him back to Atlanta.
Brewers: INF Saladino (left ankle sprain) was activated from the disabled list and INF Eric Sogard was designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
Braves: RHP Mike Foltynewicz (6-4, 2.02) is 1-1 all-time against Milwaukee.
Brewers: Rookie RHP Freddy Peralta (3-1, 2.28) makes his sixth start.
—
The team has won five games in a row and will try to stretch it to six on Wednesday afternoon in a Fourth of July matinee.
“Everything is believable,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters when asked about his team’s recent hot streak. “We believe in everything right now. Santa Claus is absolutely true.
“When you get to that point and you get that kind of confidence, you don’t want to do anything to nick it.”
Chicago (48-35) has climbed 13 games above .500 to match its high-water mark. The Cubs have a chance to set a new high when they host the Detroit Tigers (38-49) in the finale of a two-game series at Wrigley Field.
All of the Cubs’ five wins during the streak have been in come-from-behind fashion.
“One of our concepts is to score first,” Maddon said. “One of our concepts is to win the inning. But I think this is maybe the residue of our starting pitching not being what it probably is. We’ve given up more runs early from our starters that we didn’t anticipate happening.
“But it’s a tightly knit group. They’re there to pick everybody else up. So, OK, they’ve scored a couple runs. There’s no quit. The chatter in the dugout is great, all that stuff is outstanding. I just think that the come-from-behind component right now is based on our starters not pitching to their capabilities yet.”
That said, the Cubs will look for a solid start from left-hander Jose Quintana (6-6, 4.31 ERA) in his 17th start of the season. The 29-year-old has allowed three earned runs or fewer in nine of his past 12 starts.
In 18 career starts against the Tigers Robert Griffin III Jersey , Quintana is 5-5 with a 4.37 ERA. The Colombia native has walked 26 and struck out 82 in 111 1/3 innings.
The Tigers will counter with veteran left-hander Francisco Liriano (3-4, 3.99 ERA), who is scheduled to make his 13th start of the season. The burly southpaw carries a career record of 105-103 with a 4.14 ERA in 335 career games.
More than a few teams could be scouting the 34-year-old Liriano as the trade deadline approaches. He is coming off a quality start against the Toronto Blue Jays but has not logged a victory since April 17 against the Baltimore Orioles.
In 14 career starts against the Cubs, Liriano is 5-4 with a 3.27 ERA. He most recently faced the club in 2016, when he posted an 0-2 record with a 7.63 ERA in three starts with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays.
The Tigers could turn to a six-man rotation in the next couple weeks, which is fine with Liriano.
“I think that would work,” Liriano said recently to mlive.com. “It wouldn’t bother me at all. I don’t know about any other guys. (Blaine) Hardy has been doing a great job, so it’s hard to put him in the bullpen with the way he’s throwing the ball right now. I think that’s a great idea.”
Injured Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant (shoulder) is not expected to play Wednesday. He is hitting .280 with nine home runs and 36 RBIs in 66 games this season.
Jhoulys Chacin settled down nicely after a rough start.
Trailing 2-0 after the first three batters of the game, Chacin threw seven solid innings and Hernan Perez homered among his three hits Mark Andrews Jersey , leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night in a matchup of first-place teams.
NL Central Division-leading Milwaukee won its fourth game in a row to go 17 games over .500 (52-35) for the first time since July 1, 2014, when the Brewers were 51-34.
Chacin (7-3) gave up three hits and two earned runs while matching a season high with seven strikeouts in what tied for his longest outing this year. The right-hander, who was 0-2 in his previous three starts while allowing 10 runs in 15 2/3 innings, retired 20 of the last 24 batters he faced.
”Jhoulys pitched excellent – after the first,” Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. ”He locked it in and made some really good pitches the rest of the night.”
Dan Jennings pitched two perfect innings for his first save this season, and second of his career.
NL East-leading Atlanta dropped its third consecutive game after winning four straight – and lost for the first time this season on a Thursday (7-1).
Braves left-hander Max Fried (1-3) lasted only three innings in his third start of the season, giving up four earned runs and four hits with three walks.
”He had a blister starting and he’s had a history of the blister thing,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. ”And when it kind of surfaced Eric Weddle Jersey , I decided I didn’t want to take any chances, so I shut him down.”
Atlanta gave Fried a 2-0 lead in the first, but he allowed a run in the bottom of the frame and did not help his cause in the second. After a leadoff triple by Perez and a walk to Keon Broxton, Milwaukee tied it at 2 on a single by Tyler Saladino. Fried failed to hold the runners on first and second by not even looking at them, so Broxton and Saladino converted a double steal. Erik Kratz’s groundout scored Broxton to give Milwaukee a 3-2 lead.
”We’re getting the right guys out there, trying to do our homework and find spots when we can take advantage of something,” Counsell said.
Then, Fried not only walked Chacin, he fired a wild pitch that bounced off the backstop on ball four. Catcher Tyler Flowers retrieved the ball and threw to Fried covering the plate. But Saladino – who appeared to be an easy out – slid awkwardly in front of the plate and knocked it out of the pitcher’s glove. Saladino got up and stepped on the plate for a 4-2 lead.
Perez hit a two-run homer – his fifth – off reliever Dan Winkler in the eighth.
MORE MOUND MISCUES
In the first Jonathan Ogden Jersey , Ozzie Albies scored from third on a grounder hit by Freddie Freeman. Chacin fielded the ball, looked at Albies and then slowly lobbed a high toss to first which allowed the speedster to score without a throw home. … In the eighth, Winkler’s pickoff attempt at first hit Jonathan Villar in the head and the ball ended up in Milwaukee’s dugout for an error. Villar took second and scored on a single by Christian Yelich.
FREEMAN STILL SLUMPING
In his previous nine games in Milwaukee, Freeman was hitting .419 (13-for-31) with six home runs and seven walks. But that did not end his slump, as he was 0 for 3 and is now batting .154 (10-for-65) in his last 16 games.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Braves: RHP Julio Tehran is not in Milwaukee after coming down with an illness while the team was in New York. Since he was not scheduled to start against the Brewers, the Braves sent him back to Atlanta.
Brewers: INF Saladino (left ankle sprain) was activated from the disabled list and INF Eric Sogard was designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
Braves: RHP Mike Foltynewicz (6-4, 2.02) is 1-1 all-time against Milwaukee.
Brewers: Rookie RHP Freddy Peralta (3-1, 2.28) makes his sixth start.
—