Fowler, Hammel lead Cubs to victory over Marlins |
CHICAGO -- Dexter Fowler had three hits and scored two runs while Jason Hammel pitched six shutout innings to lead the Cubs to a 3-2 win over the Marlins.
After Kyle Hendricks pitched his second career shutout victory in yesterday’s game, the Cubs hoped the streak would continue in Tuesday evening’s game as Hammel (11-5) took the mound. Hammel help extended the Cubs scoreless innings streak to 24.0 innings before finally giving up a run to the Marlins. Dexter Fowler lead off the first inning with a triple (his 69th of the year), and Willson Contreras was able to bring him home with an infield hit, giving the Cubs the 1-0 lead early. Fowler and Contreras were back at it again in the third as Fowler singled and stole second, while Contreras singled to advance to third base. Rizzo hit a blooper that was caught in the outfield, and Contreras had to rush back to first. Good baserunning by Fowler allowed him to score while Contreras was thrown out at second. The hectic, crazy play ended with the Cubs having the 2-0 lead going into the 4th. Fowler had his third hit of the game in the 5th as he singled to right center scoring Chris Coghlan and giving the Cubs the lead of 3-0. The Marlins came alive in the seventh inning when Pedro Stop came into the game. Adeiny Hechavarria singled to left and scored Derek Dietrich and then J.T. Realmuto singled to right scoring Chris Johnson. The Marlins narrowed the Cubs lead to 3-2. The part time left fielder, full time reliever Travis Wood was finally able to get the Cubs out of the jam. Hector Rondon pitched a shutout eighth and Aroldis Chapman made his fifth appearance as a Cub to get the last three outs of the ballgame, giving the Cubs the victory over the Marlins. The Cubs will continue play tomorrow afternoon against the Marlins in the final game of the three game series as John Lackey will face off against Tom Koehler. Notes * The Cubs have won 13 of their last 19 games, including a 12-6 mark since the All-Star Break ... have now won five-straight home series for the second time this season ... evened up the season series against Miami at three games apiece, and the all-time series at 92 games apiece. * Cubs pitching extended its scoreless innings streak to 24.0 innings before allowing a run in the seventh inning … dated to the fourth inning of Sunday night’s game. * The Cubs improved to 14-16 in one-run games and 7-33 when scoring fewer than four runs. * Chicago has been held homerless in four-straight games for the first time since July 7-11 of last season. * Addison Russell (1-for-3, HBP) was hit-by-pitch in the sixth inning, marking the Cubs 70th hit-by-pitch of the season, by far the most in the majors (Pittsburgh entered the day with 59 HBP) … last season, the Cubs were hit-by-pitch 74 times. * Matt Szczur (1-for-1) collected his 12th pinch-hit of the season, the most by a Cubs batter since Reed Johnson had 13 pinch-hits in 2012. * Travis Wood (0.1 IP) stranded two baserunners and has now stranded 27 of 30 baserunners this season (90.0%). * Hector Rondon (1.0 IP, 2 H, SO) has a 1.52 ERA (4 ER/23.2 IP) in 25 relief outings at home. * Jason Heyward (1-for-4) has hit safely in eight-straight games (.281/9-for-32) and has reached safely in 22 of his last 26 games with an at-bat. ? Chris Coghlan (1-for-3, R) has reached in all three games since returning from the disabled list.
