Marlins Blow Lead as Cubs Complete Sweep

Never mind he wasn’t confident about his pitches.

For the Miami Marlins to see where they stand in the NL playoff picture heading into the home stretch, playing the elite teams in the league is a good measuring stick. “You go out and try to be more productive and you’re not trying to do too much”. Jackson signed a minor-league contract with the Padres in June after starting the season in Miami’s bullpen.

Lackey gave up hits to two of the first three hitters he faced and trailed 1-0 after just eight pitches. Blash homered in the two-run seventh.

Miami Marlins catcher Jeff Mathis, right, chases after a game winning wild pitch by A.J. Ramos (44) to Willson Contreras, center, that scored Matt Szczur during the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016, in Chicago. He’s won his last four decisions while recording a 1.86 ERA and.188 batting average against over his last five starts.

Marlins All-Star closer A.J. Ramos blew the save in the ninth inning Wednesday against the Cubs after letting a 4-2 lead slip away and he lost the game on a wild pitch that resulted in a Chicago walk-off win, 5-4.

The Miami Marlins had a 4-2 lead on the Cubs entering the ninth inning of Wednesday’s tilt in Chicago.

Miguel Montero started the rally with a leadoff double and went to third on a single by Javier Baez. Chicago’s winning run crossed the plate on a wild pitch with the bases loaded.

Dexter Fowler’s sacrifice fly made it 4-3, with the other two runners advancing as well.

Especially when the Cubs failed to add on to the run they scored in the eighth after Zobrist’s bunt on a 3-2 pitch, which he said he felt more comfortable doing than taking his chances on hitting a Fernando Rodney changeup he had trouble seeing.

PHOENIX – Max Scherzer struck out 11 in eight innings and had a two-run single in Washington’s victory over Arizona.

It marked the second time this season – and first since April – that the Marlins were swept in a three-game series.

St. Louis’ Brandon Moss singled home two runs in a four-run first inning that set up a 5-4 win against Cincinnati.

Teixeira’s home run, the first for the switch-hitter off a lefty since July 31 past year, put the Yankees ahead 6-3.

We have quite a bit of time before the Cubs’ next game, more than 48 hours, as they won’t play until Friday at 9:05 CT at Oakland, in this curious little one-series, three-game road trop to northern California.

Ramos (1-1) took the loss while Cubs reliever Justin Grimm (1-0), who was brought up from Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday, worked the ninth for the victory.

John Lackey got into first-inning trouble.

Brad Miller and Kevin Kiermaier also homered for the Rays.

Tom Koehler was brilliant with six strong innings. Enny Romero and Ryan Garton completed a two-hitter.

They were the only three hits allowed by Red Sox starter Rick Porcello (14-3) who suffered his first loss in nearly three months.

Cleveland, the AL Central leader, fell to 4-8 against last-place Minnesota.

Michael Wacha (7-7) gave up a pair of runs in five innings.

On July 1, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel allowed 10 runs in a loss to the Mets.

Braves 8, Pirates 4 – At Atlanta: Ender Inciarte broke a tie with an RBI single in the fifth inning and offensively challenged Atlanta had 15 hits to beat Pittsburgh.

Koehler gave up five hits and one run while striking out seven. Whalen put himself in a 4-0 hole on Matt Joyce’s 11th homer, a three-run shot, and a run that scored on a wild pitch. Christian Yelich got the scoring started in the first inning, when he doubled to left, scoring Dee Gordon.

Angels 8, A’s 6 • Albert Pujols’ two-run homer won in the bottom of the ninth won the game for Los Angeles. It was Donaldson’s third multi-homer game this season.