Quick Hitters
Padres win 2-1 to send slumping Cubs to 6th straight loss
SAN DIEGO — Sweeping anybody is a big deal for the rebuilding, rookie-laden San Diego Padres.
Make it the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs, and that’s huge for a team that hopes to be contending by 2019 or 2020.
San Diego rookie Franchy Cordero tripled leading off the eighth inning and scored on Yangervis Solarte’s fielder’s choice, and the Padres beat Chicago 2-1 on Wednesday to hand the Cubs their season-high sixth straight loss.
Luis Perdomo, in just his second big league season, and two relievers combined to hold the struggling Cubs to three hits. The Padres won their season-best fourth straight game and swept the Cubs for the first time since August 2012.
The 22-year-old Cordero, who batted leadoff and struck out in his first three at-bats, made his major league debut on Saturday. Rookie slugger Hunter Renfroe batted cleanup in this one. And the Padres started rookie Luis Torrens at catcher, giving Austin Hedges a day off.
Perdomo pitched seven strong innings a day after rookie Dinelson Lamet produced another solid outing, striking out eight in five innings of a 6-2 win to improve to 2-0.
“Playing that way, pitching that way, seeing Dinelson Lamet throw the ball the way he’s thrown it and seeing it in Perdomo, and now you see it in a group of young guys, you ... don’t have to dream on, you can just believe in because you see what they’ve got,” manager Andy Green said. “It’s exciting to see those guys show up and start to do some really good things.”
Mr. Met gives fan the finger, employee done with mascot duty
NEW YORK — Even Mr. Met is frustrated with the team’s disappointing start.
New York’s beloved mascot flashed his “middle” finger at a fan during Wednesday night’s 7-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, and the team says the employee won’t work in the costume again.
A person tweeted video of the incident, which soon went viral online, and the club quickly issued a statement.
“We apologize for the inappropriate action of this employee,” the Mets said in an email attributed to the organization. “We do not condone this type of behavior. We are dealing with this matter internally.”
Washington’s Harper gets suspension reduced 1 game
NEW YORK — Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper has agreed to drop his appeal of a fourgame suspension and will have one game shaved from the punishment.
Harper reached the agreement Wednesday with Major League Baseball and was to begin serving the suspension immediately.
The punishment stemmed from a bench-clearing brawl on Monday after Harper was hit by a 98 mph fastball from Giants reliever Hunter Strickland. There’s no word on Strickland, who received a sixgame suspension and also had planned to appeal.
The bad blood between the two stemmed from a pair of home runs Harper hit off Strickland in the 2014 playoffs.
MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre’s explanation of the disciplinary decisions said Strickland intentionally hit “Harper with a pitch, inciting the bench-clearing incident and fighting,” while Harper’s suspension came “for charging the mound, throwing his helmet and fighting.”
Each player also was fined an undisclosed amount.