Hamels’ next start pushed back to Friday

“It’s tough to come in here and sweep the Cubs”. The guaranteed portion of his contract runs through only his age-34 season – whereas a group of free agents in or approaching their 30s, such as David Price, Johnny Cueto and Zack Greinke(assuming he opts out), will be looking for deals that take them into their late 30s.

“My goal is to throw it right down the middle, see how fast (it goes)”. “What I want is to be successful at it. I enjoyed the moment and this happened”. And on Sunday, recent call-up Aaron Nola won his first major league start with plenty of backup from the offense, namely Maikel Franco and Ryan Howard, who both blasted two-run homers.

Hamels (6-7) threw his first career no-hitter in what could be his final start for the Phillies.

San Francisco also has a number of big prospects they can deal to Philadelphia, particularly Adalberto Mejia, Kyle Crick and Tyler Beede, a trio of starting pitchers in Double-A.

In winning the first three games of the series, Chicago (45-50) have outscored Cleveland 24-4 and moved out of last place in the AL Central, ahead of the Indians (45-51).

“He definitely increased his value I would imagine”, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.

Martinez (11-4) made his first post-All-Star break start and allowed six hits in eight innings with six strikeouts and one walk, which was intentional.

Giles, who got his first career save in 2014, said he was even more nervous in this one.

Last weekend, we went on our annual Cubs trip. “My role today was just garbage”.

“Just being able to pound the zone”.

But as he showed on Saturday, he’s got plenty of fuel left in his 31-year-old tank. But the game quickly got out of hand from there. They absolutely mangled us hitting wise.

Chicago continues their stretch of games against sub-.500 teams as they wrap up the visit from the Rockies and welcome in the Brewers for four games, all important wins leading up to back-to-back matchups with two of the teams they’re directly contending with for a wild-card spot, the Pirates and the Giants.

In Anaheim, California, Delino DeShields capped a three-run rally in the eighth inning with an infield hit that drove in the go-ahead run and Rougned Odor homered as Texas beat Los Angeles.

He has been sharing playing time with Ross.

Dodgers starter Brett Anderson, who scattered five hits over seven innings, said he had a “selfish” interest in the trade deadline. 160 with three RBIs in 44 games, was placed on the bereavement list Thursday.