With a career batting average under .100 Cordy Glenn Color Rush Jersey , Jon Lester might seem to be a pitcher who doesn’t care what he does at the plate.
Not true.
”It’s important to have good at-bats. I feel like I have done that regardless of the outcome,” he said.
Lester hit a three-run homer that highlighted an eight-run burst in the second inning and wound up with his NL-leading 11th win as the Chicago Cubs held off the Minnesota Twins 11-10 on Sunday.
”I’ve had good at-bats and I haven’t been just a one-pitch out guy. So I have worked some counts and I’ve been able to at least make the pitcher work,” he said. ”That’s all I’m trying to do.”
”If I get hits, I get hits,” he said. ”The home run is awesome, it’s cool, especially at home. It’s always fun to play here with the crowd and to be able to hit the ball into the bleachers. But at the end of the day I know I’m a pitcher and I’m not a hitter.”
Ian Happ also homered for the Cubs, who have scored at least 10 runs in four straight games for the first time since 1930. Chicago swept the three-game series and has won four in a row overall.
Brian Dozier hit a two-run homer and Jake Cave also homered for the Twins.
Minnesota concluded a 1-5 Chicago road trip that began with two losses in three tries to the White Sox, and fell 10 games below .500 for the first time this season.
Lester hit his second career home run, prompting a curtain call from the cheering fans.
Lester went 10 seasons, mostly in Boston with sporadic at-bats, before getting his first major league hit. Now, in his fourth season with the Cubs, Lester has put more of an emphasis into hitting.
”I really didn’t care about hitting there” in Boston, he said. ”I’m worried about David (Ortiz) and (Dustin) Pedroia and all of the other guys driving in runs as opposed to me.”
”Coming over here, it can change the outcome of a game, so it becomes a little more important and you work on it all year. In spring training you’re doing it from part of the second week on,” he said.
Lester (11-2) allowed four runs, two of them earned, and nine hits in five-plus innings.
Mitch Garver hit a two-run homer off Dillon Maples as the Twins scored five times in the eighth. Maples, called up from Triple-A before the game when pitcher Brian Duensing went on the disabled list with a sore left shoulder, also allowed an RBI single to Logan Morrison and a two-run triple to Willians Astudillo.
”Their offense, we just had trouble with it. Lot of big innings, lot of crooked numbers. I think our guys stayed with it. We got some opportunities there and got some big hits to get back in the game. When you get as close as we did late, it makes you think about some of the runs we gave up along the way, so that’s frustrating Preston Brown Color Rush Jersey ,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said.
Javier Baez, who doubled twice, Happ and Willson Contreras each had three hits for the Cubs.
Cubs closer Brandon Morrow got one out in the eighth and pitched a scoreless ninth for his 18th save in 19 chances.
”They got out on us pretty early, but I love the fight of the guys in the dugout. I kind of had glimpses of last year’s team and our fight,” Dozier said.
In the third consecutive sweltering day at Wrigley Field with a gametime temperature at 93 degrees and a heat index at 101, the Cubs jumped all over Lance Lynn (5-7) in the second inning.
Baez doubled home two runs and Anthony Rizzo had an RBI double. Kyle Schwarber met reliever Matt Magill with the Cubs’ third straight double.
Cubs shortstop Addison Russell added an RBI single in the fourth inning and made a highlight grab in the sixth inning before leaving the game with an apparent injury resulting in the catch.
Russell bumped into Baez while making the running catch on Eduardo Escobar’s ball down the left-field line in foul territory. He walked off the field and into the dugout after talking to a team trainer and manager Joe Maddon. Maddon said Russell injured his left middle finger and he doesn’t believe it to be serious.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: LF Eddie Rosario, one of three Twins to leave Saturday’s game due to heat was in the lineup on Sunday. Teammates Bobby Wilson and Max Kepler were available, as was infielder Ehire Adrianza, who received intravenous fluids after finishing the game.
”We just encouraged everyone last night to rest and hydrate the best they could again this morning to get themselves in positions to get through the game,” Molitor said. ”You just try to be aware of it. There’s not much you can do: You’ve got to play people and you’ve got to get through the game.” … SS Jorge Polanco’s 80-game performance-enhancing drug suspension ends Monday and Molitor said he expects him to rejoin the club in Milwaukee after a stint with Triple-A Rochester.
Cubs: OF Albert Almora didn’t start, but he came in the game in the eighth as a defensive replacement after leaving Saturday’s game due to dehydration. Almora suffered cramps in his legs and was removed in the fifth inning. Almora had a nice sliding catch in center to rob Kepler in the ninth.
UP NEXT
Twins: Visit Milwaukee on Monday as they continue their interleague schedule. Kyle Gibson (2-6) is the scheduled starter. He had another rough outing against the White Sox in his last start on June 27. He allowed five runs on a season-high 11 hits.
Cubs: RHP Kyle Hendricks (5-8) will try to bounce back from his shortest outing of season on Tuesday against the Tigers. Hendricks allowed six runs
The strength of a contending club often isn’t determined by who plays every day, but who plays only every few days. Or every few weeks. Or even every few months.
The Milwaukee Brewers were concerned when they began their Friday night game in Cincinnati with two injured starting outfielders, Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, then lost the other starter, Ryan Braun, to lower back tightness in the seventh inning.
But manager Craig Counsell plugged in exactly the right pieces, and a spare outfield group that probably should be called “The Replacements” keyed an 8-2 victory over the Reds.
How’s this for a couple of fills-in, who did nothing except fill up the box score: Keon Broxton was 3-for-4 with two homers, four RBIs, a run stolen by some alert baserunning and an exceptional sliding catch.
And Hernan Perez, who came in after Braun was hurt, contributed a two-run double to start a five-run ninth inning.
“They (the Brewers outfield) have been the workhorse of this team, so I’ve got to come in and fill their spot while they’re down. It was a good night,” said Broxton, who played in only his third game this season.
Because their bench came through yet again — on Thursday night, part-time starter Eric Thames hit his third consecutive game-winning homer against the Reds — the Brewers can assure them of winning the four-game series by taking Saturday’s game at Great American Ball Park.
“It speaks to our depth again … we’ve had a couple of games like that where (bench players) make meaningful contributions Chad Thomas Color Rush Jersey ,” Counsell said. “With Yelich down, we’re counting on Keon, so it’s got to be a good feeling for him.”
The last-place Reds had won nine of 10 coming in to the series, but still can’t seem to solve the Brewers, who have won seven of eight games against Cincinnati. Milwaukee owns the National League’s best record at 48-33.
“These guys have been battling all year and they’re in a good spot right now, so I’m trying to do my best to keep them right there,” Broxton said.
Milwaukee will send out right-hander Jhoulys Chacin (6-3), who has lost his last two decisions, on Saturday to face Reds right-hander Tyler Mahle (6-6), who has won his last three decisions during a span of six starts.
“We’ve got to play better. … Their pitching kind of stifled us the last two nights,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “We’ve got to turn it back on … crank it up again with our bats.”
Yelich sat out with a lower back issue. He’s listed as day to day — and so Broxton made his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Tuesday.
Broxton had an RBI single in the second against Sal Romano (4-8), then hit the first of his two homers to make the score 2-0 in the fourth. Then, with Milwaukee up 2-1 in the eighth after reliever Michael Lorenzen’s homer for the Reds, Broxton appeared to be caught off third by Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart.
But he eluded a tag by falling down, then scored as Orlando Arcia distracted the Reds by allowing himself to be tagged off second.
Broxton finished quite an evening’s work with a two-run homer in the ninth and a stretched-out catch of Scooter Gennett’s drive into the right-center field gap with two runners on base.
“He’s been up and down (from the minors) a little bit, but he’s very talented,” Riggleman said of Broxton, who hit only .220 while spending most of last season with Milwaukee. “He can do a lot of things — he can hit with power, he can run and he plays great defense.”
The Reds didn’t do much against Brewers starter Chase Anderson, who limited them to one other hit besides Lorenzen’s homer in six innings, and relievers Josh Hader, Jeremy Jeffress and Dan Jennings.
Now, the Brewers would like to get Chacin straightened out. His ERA jumped from 3.18 to 3.82 as he gave up eight runs, nine hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings during an 8-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. Chacin is 2-3 in nine career games against the Reds. He didn’t get the decision during a 6-5 Brewers win on April 30.
In Mahle’s only previous start against the Brewers, Thames beat him with a two-run homer in a 2-0 Milwaukee win on April 18.
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