The Chicago Cubs took two of three from the Cincinnati Reds over the past couple of days. The Cubs won the first two games and dropped the series finale this afternoon.
The Cubs took game one 2-0 with the winning pitcher being Travis Wood who earned his ninth win of the year while Kevin Gregg marked his 31st save of the year. Ryan Sweeney and Luis Valbuena each hit solo home runs to supply the offense for the Cubs. Joey Votto and Zack Cozart each had two hits in four trips for the Reds.
On Tuesday the Cubs blew the Reds out in a 9-1 victory. Edwin Jackson got his eighth win of the year to go along with his 15 losses. Tony Cingrani took the loss for the Reds, it is just his fourth loss of the year. Cingrani actually left in the second inning with back spasms. Welington Castillo and Donnie Murphy both had three RBI’s to go along with their five combined hits. Junior Lake and Starlin Castro also had two hits a piece in the ball game.
The Reds had ten hits, but they were very spread out as Joey Votto was the only Red that had multiple hits. He had two in four trips.
In the final game that was played this afternoon the Reds shut the Cubs out 6-0. Jeff Samardzija had another rough start for the Cubs. He got through just five and two thirds innings and allowed eight hits and six earned runs. The loss is Samarzija’s 12th of the year. Mike Leake was the starter for the Reds, he, like Samardzija, only managed five and two thirds, but he only allowed just four hits over that time. The Reds bullpen was very solid, they pitched a combined three and a third innings and allowed just two hits. The Cubs bullpen was basically identical. Three pitchers combined for two and a third innings of no hit ball.
Jack Hannahan had a big pinch hit three run home run in the sixth inning to push the Red lead from three to six and put the game out of reach. The Cub offense managed just six hits in the game with two of them going for extra bases. Nate Schierholtz and Junior Lake each doubled.
The Cubs will now travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates. The series will start tomorrow at 6:05 PM CT at PNC Park. The probable starters for the game are, Jeff Locke (9-5) for the Pirates and Chris Rusin (2-3) for the Cubs.
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