PITTSBURGH — Jeff Samardzija knew about the reports that had his teammate and friend Ryan Dempster on the verge of being traded to the Atlanta Braves as he got ready to take the mound Monday night for the Chicago Cubs.
Samardzija, however, had no problem keeping his focus, giving up one hit over eight innings, and Alfonso Soriano hit two run-scoring doubles as the Cubs cooled off the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0.
“I could give you a long list of things that [Dempster] has done to help me become a major league pitcher,” Samardzija said. “He’s been a great teammate and a great friend and we all love his veteran presence on a young pitching staff. However,trades and things are out of our control.”
Dempster was still in a Cubs uniform Monday night despite reports that the team had agreed to a trade that would send him to Atlanta.
The pitcher declined comment and Cubs assistant general manager Randy Bush said: “There is nothing to report.”
Dempster has the right to refuse any deal.
A message posted Monday on the Twitter account for Dempster’s foundation read: “THERE IS NO TRADE don’t know where this info came from!”
Dempster is 5-4 with a major league-best 2.11 ERA in 15 starts, making him one of the most attractive pitchers on the market before the July 31 deadline for making trades without waivers. His contract expires after this season, and the fifth-place Cubs entered Monday 18 games below .500.
Samardzija pitched like an ace Monday, though, as the only hit he allowed was a fourth-inning infield single to Andrew McCutchen, the major leagues’ leading hitter with a .373 average. The ball ricocheted off Samardzija.
“McCutchen is really fast and your first reaction is to stop after taking a couple of steps toward the bag if you feel you have no chance,” said Samardzija in explaining why he was late to cover first base as McCutchen easily beat first baseman Anthony Rizzo’s throw. “I would have hated if had cost us a no-hitter, though. We’ll probably have [pitchers’ fielding practice] every day for a month after that.” DODGERS 5, CARDINALS 3 Chad Billingsley returned from the disabled list with a strong outing that ended a five-start losing streak and Luis Cruz hit a three-run home run as Los Angeles beat host St. Louis. Billingsley (5-9) allowed a run and four hits in six innings to win for the first time since June 10 at Seattle.
NATIONALS 8, METS 2 Bryce Harper homered his first time up in New York, then hit a tie breaking single to key a six-run burst in the 10thinning that sent Washington past the Mets.
MARLINS 2, BRAVES 1 Josh Johnson (6-7) pitched six scoreless innings and Emilio Bonifacio homered to lead host Miami over Atlanta.
PHILLIES 7, BREWERS 6 Ty Wigginton hit a sacrifice fly to cap a four-run rally in the ninth inning against Francisco Rodriguez (2-5) that lifted host Philadelphia over Milwaukee.
American League WHITE SOX 7, TWINS 4 Adam Dunn hit his major league-leading 29th home run, Gavin Floyd (8-8) went six innings after coming off the disabled list and host Chicago ended a five-game losing streak.
RANGERS 9, RED SOX 1 Scott Feldman, starting after Roy Oswalt was scratched with back tightness, threw seven strong innings to lead host Texas past Boston. Feldman (4-6) gave up 1 earned run and 7 hits and struck out 5.
INDIANS 3, ORIOLES 1 Justin Masterson, backed by three double plays, pitched 7 1/3 strong innings to help host Cleveland beat Baltimore and avoid a four-game sweep. Masterson (7-8) struck out six as Cleveland broke a four-game losing streak.
Monday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE Chicago Cubs 2, Pittsburgh 0 Philadelphia 7, Milwaukee 6 Miami 2, Atlanta 1 Washington 8, NY Mets 2, 10 innings Cincinnati 8, Houston 3 LA Dodgers 5, St. Louis 3 Colorado at Arizona, (n) San Diego at San Francisco, (n) AMERICAN LEAGUE Cleveland 3, Baltimore 1 Texas 9, Boston 1 Chicago White Sox 7, Minnesota 4 Kansas City at LA Angels, (n) NY Yankees at Seattle, (n)
Sports, Pages 18 on 07/24/2012