Cubs finish sweep of Cards at home

Chicago Cubs closing pitcher Wade Davis (71) celebrates with teammate Javier Baez right, after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017, in Chicago.
Chicago Cubs closing pitcher Wade Davis (71) celebrates with teammate Javier Baez right, after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017, in Chicago.

CHICAGO — Wade Davis bent over on the mound with his head resting in his arms. The All-Star closer thought Dexter Fowler’s drive was headed for the iconic scoreboard at Wrigley Field, but Leonys Martin caught the ball on the warning track in center field.

Such is life these days for the rolling Chicago Cubs.

Jason Heyward hit a tie-breaking RBI single in the seventh, Fowler’s bid for another big home run came up just short and the Cubs swept the St. Louis Cardinals with a 4-3 victory Sunday.

“Just an intense, intense baseball game,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said.

Ben Zobrist drove in two runs and Kyle Schwarber hit his 27th home run as the NL Central-leading Cubs closed out a 6-3 homestand with their sixth consecutive victory. They stayed four games ahead of Milwaukee and increased their advantage over third-place St. Louis to six games.

Pedro Strop (5-4) worked a rocky seventh for the victory and Davis got his 31st save in 31 chances. The right-hander also saved Saturday’s 4-1 win.

CUBS 4, CARDINALS 3

“It seems like we’re competing at a pretty good level,” Davis said.

Chicago led 3-0 before Fowler hit a tying three-run homer off Jose Quintana with two out in the sixth, silencing the crowd of 37,242 on a warm, sunny day. The inning began with a double for Matt Carpenter that eluded a lunging Schwarber in left.

Fowler got one last chance to hurt his former team in the ninth. With a runner on first and two out, he put a good swing on a full-count pitch from Davis, but Martin tracked it down.

Lance Lynn lasted just 4 innings, allowing 5 hits and 3 runs.

“We got beat this series. They beat us,” Lynn said. “We didn’t give away games, we got beat. So we’ve got to win the next one and the next and the next one and the next one and hope that these guys don’t do that and the wild-card teams don’t do that.”

BREWERS 10, MARLINS 3 Travis Shaw, Jesus Aguilar and Manny Pina each had two hits in an eight-run fourth inning. The Brewers won two of three in a series moved from Florida following Hurricane Irma. Brandon Woodruff (2-2) allowed 3 runs and 8 hits in 7 innings.

GIANTS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 2 Pablo Sandoval homered and drove in three runs, rookie Chris Stratton (3-3) allowed two runs and five hits in six innings for the host Giants. Arizona had won 20 of 25 games and nine consecutive on the road. Taijuan Walker (9-8) Walker allowed 4 runs and 7 hits in 5 innings.

PADRES 4, ROCKIES 3 Rockies closer Greg Holland dropped the ball trying to tag Matt Szczur at home on Austin Hedge’s squeeze bunt in the ninth inning, allowing visiting San Diego to finish its rally and beat Colorado. Hedges bunted back to Holland (3-6) with runners at the corners and one out, but after making a nice play to scoop up the ball, Holland lost control trying to tag a sliding Szczur.

NATIONALS 7, DODGERS 1 Stephen Strasburg ended his club-record scoreless streak at 35 innings, but two home runs from Ryan Zimmerman helped the All-Star win his fourth consecutive start as host Washington beat Los Angeles. Los Angeles has lost 11 in a row and 16 of 17 before ripping off four consecutive victories, including the first two games of this series.

Sports on 09/18/2017

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