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Cards, Cubs Win; A's Edge Sox Sunday

>>Cardinals Down Diamondbacks

 

Paul Goldschmidt homered, Adam Wainwright pitched seven scoreless innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals held on to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-2 on Sunday.

 

Wainwright (6-7), who was scratched from Friday's start due to back spasms, relied on a mixture of cutters, change-ups and curve balls. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out seven as he improved 4-0 in day starts this season.

 

Arizona trailed 5-0 going to the ninth before Domingo Leyba and Jarrod Dyson had RBI singles against John Brebbia. The Diamondbacks had the bases loaded with two outs, but Carlos Martinez got Eduardo Escobar to hit a fly ball to center for the final out for his fifth save.

 

Wainwright helped himself out offensively by walking and scoring to start a three-run third inning rally and he also laid down a sacrifice bunt leading to Matt Carpenter's sacrifice fly as the Cardinals tacked on their fifth run in the fourth.

 

Goldschmidt's 416-foot two-run shot into the upper deck in left field gave the Cardinals a 4-0 lead in the third. Yairo Munoz started the rally with a single that drove in Wainwright, and advanced to third on Nick Ahmed's throwing error.

 

Tyler O'Neill continued his RBI barrage by driving home Goldschmidt with a double that hugged the left field line to make it 1-0 in the first inning, ending Greinke's 14-inning scoreless streak. O'Neill drove in all four Cardinals run in a 4-2 win on Saturday night.

 

Greinke (10-4) gave up five runs in six innings. The loss snapped a five-year July winning streak for the Arizona ace, who entered the game 14-0 with a 1.34 ERA in his last 18 starts in the month dating back to July 25, 2014.

 

Miles Mikolas (5-9, 4.53 ERA) will get the start to kick off a three-game series against Pittsburgh and RHP Joe Musgrove (6-7, 4.15 ERA) on Monday night. Mikolas is 2-3 with a 2.96 ERA in nine career appearances against the Pirates.

 

>>Cubs Top Pirates For Three-Game Sweep

 

Jason Heyward, Albert Almora Jr. and Kyle Schwarber hit home runs and the Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-3 on Sunday for a three-game sweep.

The NL Central leaders posted their first series win since taking all three from St. Louis on June 7-9.

The Cubs were 10-16 in the 26 games before last week's break. They outscored Pirates 22-10 in the series.

 

Robel Garcia had a pair of doubles and Anthony Rizzo added two hits as Chicago improved to 32-16 at Wrigley Field.

 

Cubs starter Jose Quintana (7-7) allowed three runs on six hits in six innings to win his third straight start. The left-hander struck out four and walked two.

 

Quintana has allowed six runs in 19 innings for a 2.84 ERA during the winning streak. Before that, he had lost six straight decisions.

 

Bryan Reynolds got two hits and drove in a run for Pittsburgh, which has dropped five of seven.

 

Almora had a pinch-hit homer in the sixth and Schwarber followed with a drive to right on the next pitch. Williams was pulled after giving up a single to the next batter, Javier Baez, and Rizzo later had a sacrifice fly.

 

Trevor Williams allowed a career-high tying eight runs on a career-high 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings.

kyle Hendricks (7-7, 3.49 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series against Cincinnati on Monday night as the homestand continues. RHP Luis Castillo (8-3, 2.29) pitches for the Reds.

 

>>A's Edge White Sox

 

Chad Pinder scored all the way from first base on a Jose Rondon's throwing error trying to start a double play, and Oakland beat Chicago 3-2 on Sunday.

Pinder singled as a pinch-hitter off Jace Fry (1-4) to begin the ninth. Laureano, who homered in the eighth to tie it at 2, followed with a sharp grounder to the left side of the infield.

 

Rondon made a backhanded stop, hurried and threw on the run. But the ball sailed past second baseman Yolmer Sanchez and rolled into the large foul territory near Chicago's bullpen, and Pinder scored standing up.

 

After acquiring pitcher Homer Bailey from Kansas City earlier in the day, the A's completed a three-game sweep. They have won 10 of 12 to put themselves in solid playoff contention.

 

Mark Canha had two hits and Matt Chapman added an RBI for Oakland.

 

Eloy Jimenez homered for the White Sox. Sanchez had two hits and Rondon had an RBI double. Chicago was outscored 21-5 in the three games.

 

Jimenez entered the day tied for the lead in home runs among rookies in the AL, then padded that total with his 17th in the seventh against starter Brett Anderson.

 

Oakland tied it on Laureano's fourth home run in five games, a solo drive to right-center off reliever Evan Marshall, who had just entered the game.

 

White Sox starter Reynaldo Lopez allowed an unearned run, had seven strikeouts in six innings and left with a 2-1 lead. It's the first time in 11 starts that the right-hander has not allowed a home run.

Lucas Giolito (11-3, 3.15 ERA), fresh off throwing a scoreless inning at the All-Star game, pitches against Kansas City on Monday. Giolito is 6-0 lifetime against the Royals.

 

>>Cardinals Legend Gibson Has Pancreatic Cancer

 

Bob Gibson, the Hall of Fame right-hander who spent his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals, is battling pancreatic cancer. 

 

Gibson's longtime agent, Dick Zitzmann, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Gibson was first diagnosed with the cancer a few weeks ago. Gibson visited doctors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and has been hospitalized in his hometown of Omaha, Neb. for the past two weeks. 

 

Zitzmann said Gibson is likely to begin chemotherapy Monday in Omaha.

 

Gibson, who will turn 84 in November, pitched his entire career -- 17 MLB seasons -- with the Cardinals. The eight-time All-Star won the Cy Young Award twice, in 1968 and 1970. 


Gibson, a two-time World Series champion, was dominant in the postseason and was 7-2 in nine World Series starts. He was named the World Series MVP for both of the years in which the Cardinals won (1964, 1967).

 

Gibson also earned the MVP Award in 1968. During the '68 season, Gibson finished 22-9 and led the majors in ERA (1.12), shutouts (13) and strikeouts (268).

 

Gibson retired following the 1975 season and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981. 

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