Cubs cruise past Brewers

The Brewers, last in the NL Central, announced earlier in the day that Doug Melvin is moving into an advisory role after 13 years as general manager.

The Chicago Cubs didn’t make any “big” deals at the deadline, but Dan Haren may have been an under the radar pickup that can help solidify the back-end of a strong rotation. Chris Coughlan led off with a walk, stole second base (an “out” call was reversed on video replay) and scored on Anthony Rizzo’s double to left-center. They have also eleven of their last twelve games.

Soler extended his hitting streak to 10, and the Cubs took advantage of three errors along with some wild pitching on the way to yet another win.

Thanks to some atrocious defense, the Cubs put three runs on the board against Jungmann in the second inning, only two of them earned. He did considerably better Tuesday, striking out a career-high 11, allowing four hits and finishing seven innings for the first time for the White Sox.

Haren retired the first eight hitters before Jungmann singled with two down in the third, boosting his average to.350. Rizzo added an RBI double in the third before Chicago chased Taylor Jungmann (6-4).

Tyler Thornburg walked Rizzo with the bases loaded and hit Soler in the elbow to force in another run, putting the Cubs up 6-1. He gave up a two-run homer in the fourth inning and departed with no outs in the fifth after walking two batters.

Mets 4, Rockies 0 • Matt Harvey allowed four hits in eight innings, Ruben Tejada had a go-ahead single in the sixth and New York beat Colorado for the eighth straight time at Citi Field. Dan Haren, who took the last Cubs loss before icing San Fran, will get the ball tonight against a Brewers team who, thankfully, hasn’t exactly run up the scoreboard against him.

James Russell threw an uneventful ninth inning, earning his first save of the season.

La Stella, acquired from Atlanta in November, has been limited to two games with the Cubs because of a strained right oblique.

Padres 11, Reds 6 • Colin Rea pitched well into the sixth inning in his major league debut and Jedd Gyorko homered and drove in four runs as San Diego won at home over Cincinnati.

The Cubs have become one of the hottest teams in baseball.