Cardinals 6, Cubs 0
CHICAGO -- John Lackey threw seven scoreless innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 6-0 on Monday night despite Jon Lester taking a no-hitter into the seventh.
Signed to a six-year, $155 million deal over the offseason, Lester (4-7) remained winless in nine consecutive starts since beating Pittsburgh on May 16. He allowed 2 hits and 2 unearned runs while striking out 8 for Chicago, which had won 5 of 6.
Lester's bid for his second career no-hitter ended with one out in the seventh when Kris Bryant couldn't handle Jhonny Peralta's sharp grounder in back of third base, which also ended Lester's streak of 18 batters retired.
The Chicago defense then let Lester down when Bryant's throw to second on a Jason Heyward grounder went into right field. That was followed by Yadier Molina's run-scoring sacrifice fly to right, and Kolten Wong's RBI single to left that put St. Louis ahead 2-0.
Lackey and two relievers combined on a six-hit shutout.
Lester also had the first hit of his career when he had an infield single in the second off John Lackey. He had been 0 for 66 lifetime and 0 for 30 this season.
Unfortunately for Lester, Lackey (7-5) continued the offensive woes for the Cubs, who have scored three or more runs in just two of their past 13 games.
Lackey, who was a teammate of Lester's in Boston in 2010-2014, struck out 4 and gave up 6 hits while walking 1. He also got enough support from a Cardinals offense that scored more than three runs for the first time since June 28.
The Cubs had a good chance in the sixth when Anthony Rizzo and Bryant started the inning with singles. Miguel Montero struck out before Wong made a diving play on a sharp Starlin Castro grounder to start a double play and end the inning.
With that defense and the offense showing some signs of improvement, especially in a four-run ninth against Edwin Jackson, the Cardinals stayed hot and won their third in a row and 16th of 23. The game was delayed by rain for more than an hour in the middle of the eighth inning.
PIRATES 2, PADRES 1 Pedro Alvarez singled home the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Pittsburgh a victory over visiting San Diego. Alvarez's second career game-ending hit lifted the Pirates to their eight victory in 10 games and beat his father-in-law, Padres interim manager Pat Murphy. Andrew McCutchen started the winning rally with a one-out walk off Brandon Maurer (5-2), moved to second on Jung Ho Kang's single, took third on Francisco Cervelli's fly out and scored when Alvarez singled up the middle. Jared Hughes (2-1) pitched one scoreless inning for the victory.
REDS 3, NATIONALS 2 Eugenio Suarez hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning to help visiting Cincinnati beat Washington. Suarez went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI to help the Reds snap a three-game skid and improve to 4-0 against the Nationals this season, clinching the season series.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ASTROS 9, INDIANS 4 Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks), chosen for the American League All-Star team earlier Monday, allowed three runs in six innings, helping visiting Houston defeat Cleveland. Keuchel (11-3), who leads the league in victories and is second with a 2.14 ERA, is a strong candidate to start next Tuesday's game in Cincinnati. The left-hander scattered nine hits and struck out eight.
TWINS 4, ORIOLES 2 (10) Brian Dozier's two-run home run with one out in the 10th inning lifted host Minnesota to a victory over Baltimore. Dozier lined a 2-1 pitch from Tommy Hunter (2-2) into the left field seats for his 17th home run of the season. It scored Danny Santana, who singled one batter earlier. Trevor May (5-7) pitched a scoreless 10th inning to earn the victory in his first relief appearance of the season. Torii Hunter (Pine Bluff) homered in the first inning for the Twins.
WHITE SOX 4, BLUE JAYS 2 Chris Sale's bid for a record strikeout streak ended, but he pitched a six-hitter that led host Chicago past Toronto in the fastest major league game in almost four years (1 hour, 54 minutes). Sale (7-4) had struck out at least 10 batters in eight consecutive starts, matching the major league mark set by Pedro Martinez in 1999.
Sports on 07/07/2015