Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Cubs come back to beat Nationals in 10 innings
WASHINGTON — Pinch-hitter David Bote had an RBI double and scored in the 10th inning as the Chicago Cubs came back to beat the Washington Nationals 6-4 on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.
Bote, who hit a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Cubs a 4-3 win over the Nationals on Aug. 12 in Chicago, knocked a 100 mph fastball from Jimmy Cordero (1-2) into right field to score Albert Almora Jr. Bote came home on a single by pinch-hitter Taylor Davis.
Daniel Murphy went 1 for 5 with a strikeout in his first return to Washington since the Nationals traded him to the Cubs on Aug 21.
Chicago has won two straight and leads the NL Central by 4½ games over Milwaukee.
Washington has lost three straight to fall to 69-72. The Nationals are three games under .500 for the first time since April 30.
Pedro Strop (4-2) pitched a scoreless ninth, and Jesse Chavez earned his third save.
Washington took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when Mark Reynolds belted his 13th homer of the season, a twoout, two-run shot to left field.
Murphy scored on Ben Zobrist’s sacrifice fly to tie it at 3 in the fifth.
Spencer Kieboom had a career-high three hits for Washington.
Stephen Strasburg pitched 52/3 innings for the Nationals, allowing six hits while walking three and striking out six. He gave up three runs, two earned, while throwing 111 pitches — his most since tossing a season-high 115 on May 20.
PADRES 6, REDS 2 Francisco Mejia hit a solo homer and a three-run shot during his first start as the Padres’ up-and-coming catcher, leading San Diego to a victory over the Cincinnati Reds. Mejia connected on his first two swings against Luis Castillo (8-12) for his first homers in the majors. The 22-year-old catcher was called up
Tuesday as the Padres get him ready for a bigger role next season. They got Cleveland’s top catching prospect in a July trade for relievers Brad Hand and Adam Cimber, part of the AL Central leaders’ move to improve their struggling bullpen. Mejia hit seven homers at Triple-A after the trade, prompting his September call-up. Hunter Renfroe also hit a solo homer off Castillo , who gave up three for the first time in his career. Lefthander Eric Lauer made his second straight solid start since returning from a stint on the disabled list with a sore forearm that cost him 25 days.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
INDIANS 9, BLUE JAYS 4 Francisco Lindor had two solo homers and four RBIs, Shane Bieber pitched into the seventh inning to remain unbeaten in nine road starts and the Cleveland Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays for their third straight win. Lindor connected on right-hander Sam Gaviglio’s third pitch of the game, the seventh leadoff homer of his career, then went deep to right off Gaviglio again in the third for his eighth career multihomer game. Lindor has 33 home runs this season. He added a two-run single in the fifth and singled again in the ninth. Toronto’s Rowdy Tellez doubled in the second and fourth innings after getting a pinch-hit double in his debut Wednesday, making him the first player in major league history with extra-base hits in each of his first three plate appearances.