Cubs manager Maddon wins in return to Tropicana Field
ST PETERSBURG: Mike Montgomery took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning, Kyle Schwarber hit his 28th home run and the Chicago Cubs extended their winning streak to a season-high seven games by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Tuesday in manager Joe Maddon’s return to Tropicana Field.
Maddon managed Tampa Bay from 2006-14, then left for Chicago and last year led the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908. Chicago holds a 3½-game lead over second-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
A crowd of 25,046, the largest at the Trop since opening day, gave Maddon a standing ovation in the middle of the first inning.
Montgomery (7-8) allowed one hit in six innings, a one-out homer in the sixth by Brad Miller. The left-hander struck out six and walked one.
Pedro Strop, Carl Edwards Jr and Wade Davis each followed with an inning of perfect relief to complete the one-hitter. Davis struck out the side and remained perfect in 32 save chances.
Javier Baez hit an RBI double against Chris Archer (9-11), who gave up four hits in six innings.
In Anaheim, Jay Bruce had a triple and a double among his three hits, Austin Jackson singled four times and the incredible Cleveland Indians notched their 25th victory in 26 games.
Roberto Perez added a solo home run for the AL Central champions to support a strong outing by Mike Clevinger (11-5) in their 6-3 victory.
Los Angeles’ offence struggled for the third consecutive game as the Angels missed a chance to gain ground on Minnesota in their bid for the final American League play-off berth.
In Baltimore, Jackie Bradley Jr scored the game’s lone run on a wild pitch by Brad Brach in the 11th inning, helping the Red Sox beat the Orioles 1-0 to improve to 15-3 in extra-inning games.
The Red Sox have won 10 of 13 to move a season-high 23 games over .500 (87-64) and draw closer to clinching a postseason berth. The Red Sox stayed three games ahead of the second-place Yankees in the AL East.
With a runner on second and two outs in the 11th, Brach (4-5) walked Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts to load the bases for Mitch Moreland, who sidestepped a bouncing pitch from Brach that enabled Bradley to score without a throw.
In New York, CC Sabathia recovered from a shaky start to pitch six innings, Brett Gardner had a pair of tying hits and the Yankees beat the Twins 5-2 to clinch their sixth straight series win.
With their ninth victory in 11 games, the Yankees opened six-game lead over the Twins for the top AL wildcard. Minnesota, which started the night 1½ games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels for the second AL wild card, have lost four of five.
In Toronto, Marcus Stroman pitched seven innings to win for the first time in six starts and Darwin Barney hit a tworun homer, helping the Blue Jays to the 5-2 victory.
Alex Gordon’s solo drive for Kansas City in the eighth was the majors’ 5,694th homer of the season, breaking the record set in 2000 at the height of the steroids era. There were 5,610 homers last year, an average of 2.31 per game, and this year’s average of 2.53 entering Tuesday’s action projects to 6,139.
Barney went 2 for 3 with three RBIs as the Blue Jays opened their final homestand on a winning note.