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Cardinals Win; Cubs, Sox Lose; Baseball Notes

 width=>>Cardinals Edge Giants

Yadier Molina capped an impressive game with his 100th career homer in the bottom of the eighth that snapped a tie in a 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night.

Molina added an RBI single in the first and, from his knees, threw out Kelby Tomlinson trying to steal in the seventh. Molina has done that a handful of times this season.

Rookie Stephen Piscotty homered in the third for St. Louis, which took two of three from the NL West-contending Giants.

Kevin Siegrist (5-0) allowed a walk in the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal earned his 38th save in 40 chances, striking out pinch-hitting pitcher Madison Bumgarner to end it.

Bumgarner's first career pinch hit led to a Giants insurance run in Tuesday's 2-0 victory.

Siegrist won both of the games in the series, both over Hunter Strickland (2-3), and the Cardinals wrapped up a 6-3 homestand with three 2-1 series wins and have won six consecutive series overall.

Molina led off the eighth by lining an 0-1 breaking ball from Strickland into the left field stands for his fourth homer of the year.

Brandon Crawford and Tomlinson had two hits and an RBI apiece for the Giants, who missed a chance to pull one game behind the Dodgers.

Piscotty's second career homer put the Cardinals ahead 2-0 in the third, two innings after center fielder Juan Perez scaled the wall to rob him of a long ball in one of the top defensive plays of the season at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals manufactured the tying run in the seventh on two hits, one of them an unintentional swinging bunt by Brandon Moss, a fielder's choice RBI and a sacrifice bunt. Rookie Tommy Pham's headfirst slide dislodged the ball from catcher Andrew Susac on Matt Carpenter's grounder to second.

 width=>>Weaver Sharp, Angels Beat Sox 1-0

Joe Smith had to wait 3 1-2 agonizing minutes to learn whether his fancy footwork at first base had turned into a game-ending double play.

By the smallest of margins on the scoreboard and on the bag, the Los Angeles Angels did it again.

Jered Weaver pitched five-hit ball into the seventh inning, and Carlos Perez homered in the Angels' third straight victory over the Chicago White Sox, 1-0 on Wednesday night.

After Weaver (5-9) shut down the White Sox early, the game ended when a call was reversed on a lengthy video review. Smith barely touched the bag while covering first and catching Erick Aybar's throw, doing it all just an instant ahead of pinch-hitter Adam LaRoche on a 3-6-1 double play.

LaRoche initially was called safe, which would have given the White Sox runners at the corners with two outs.

The double play was the last in a string of solid defensive plays by the Angels. Weaver earned his first victory since May 30, striking out five without a walk in his third start back from a seven-week injury absence.

The Angels' longtime ace showed command and deception that made up for his pedestrian velocity, and he eventually left to a standing ovation.

Perez delivered the game's only run with his third homer of the season in the sixth. The catcher hadn't homered since May 30.

Jeff Samardzija yielded eight hits over seven solid innings for the White Sox, who have lost five of six. Chicago was shut out for the first time since June 16.

Samardzija (8-9) was less effective than Weaver, but just as resourceful during his most encouraging start in a dismal August. He repeatedly escaped trouble - including a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the second - but lamented his poor pitch to Perez.

J.B. Shuck and Carlos Sanchez had two hits apiece for the White Sox.

Los Angeles stranded nine runners in the first five innings, including six in scoring position, continuing a season-long trend.

Mike Trout went 1 for 3 with a walk, improving his August batting average to .169. The reigning AL MVP ended just the third four-game hitless skid of his career with a first-inning single.

 width=>>Tigers Outslug Cubs Again

The home run that pitcher Daniel Norris hit in his first career plate appearance more than lived up to his childhood dreams.

''Cloud Nine,'' he said.

The injury that followed put a damper on his night.

Norris homered in his first career plate appearance, Nick Castellanos went deep twice, one a grand slam, and the Detroit Tigers pounded Jon Lester in a 15-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.

The Tigers set season highs in runs and hits (21) and tied one with five homers - three off Lester. It was also the second time this season that they reached double digits in scoring in consecutive games after winning 10-8 on Tuesday.

The Cubs dropped their third straight after winning nine in a row and 15 of 16, with Lester (8-9) making his earliest exit of the season.

The Cubs' ace lasted just 2 2-3 innings in his shortest outing since 2012 while allowing a season-high seven runs.

Norris became the 19th pitcher and first since 2011 to homer in his first major league at-bat, according to STATS, when he lined a two-run drive in the second inning. He left the game in the fifth because of a strained right oblique and is likely headed to the disabled list, manager Brad Ausmus said.

Castellanos drove in a career-high five runs and tied one with four hits. He recorded the first multihomer game of his career with a leadoff drive in the second and the grand slam that made it 7-0 in the third.

J.D. Martinez hit his 32nd homer. Rajai Davis went deep, and reliever Neftali Feliz (3-3) got the win in a game that lasted 3 hours, 48 minutes.

Chicago's Dexter Fowler, Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber all homered. But after Jason Hammel lasted just three innings Tuesday, Lester made an even earlier exit.

He gave up seven hits and three homers - one shy of his career high - after going 4-0 in his previous five starts.

>>Phillies Trade Utley To Los Angeles

The Phillies have agreed to trade veteran second baseman Chase Utley plus approximately $2 million to the Dodgers in exchange for two minor-leaguers, sources said. The deal was made official at the conclusion of Wednesday's game between Philadelphia and Toronto.

The deal will send outfielder Darnell Sweeney and right-hander John Richy to the Phillies. In recent talks, the Dodgers were not offering to extend Utley, whose deal runs out after the year.

Utley has a full no-trade and had Southern California as his preferred destination, with the Dodgers perhaps his top choice. The Angels, Giants and Cubs were also involved.

Todd Zolecki of MLB.com first reported that both sides were making progress on a deal. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports first reported that deal could be completed Wednesday.

Howie Kendrick is progressing and Kiké Hernandez has played well, so while Utley would get significant playing time, he wouldn't have a set full-time job going in.

>>Miguel Cabrera Trades Baseball For 'Fire Ausmus' Sign

Things are not going too well for the Tigers right now. They come into Wednesday with a 57-61 record and are sure to miss the postseason for the first time 2010. Longtime GM David Dombrowski was recently let go as well.

Needless to say, manager Brad Ausmus is not a popular man in Detroit. When a team underperforms as much as the Tigers have this year, the manager will get a big chunk of the blame, fair or not. One fan went as far as bringing a "Fire Ausmus" sign to a game recently.

Fans are unhappy and they want their voices to be heard. The team is disappointing? Fire the manager! That's a pretty common reaction.

Slugger Miguel Cabrera did not want that kind of negativity around the team, so he sprung into action. Cabrera traded a baseball for the "Fire Ausmus" sign. The fan then gave the ball to the kid sitting next to him.

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