Chicago’s Jason Hammel continued his outstanding start to the season by steering the Cubs to a 7-2 win at Pittsburgh on Monday, opening a four-game gap between the teams at the top of the National League Central division.
Hammel improved to 4-0 this season as the Cubs kept their record of not losing consecutive games and improved to 18-6.
The Pirates are now two games ahead of third-placed St Louis, who ended a four-game skid by beating Philadelphia, while NL East leaders Washington retained their buffer at the top by shutting out reigning World Series champions Kansas City in an interleague clash.
Photo: AFP
Hammel entered the game with an earned run average against of 0.75 runs per nine innings, but giving up two runs over five innings raised that to a still enviable 1.24. He had not given up more than one run in any of his previous five starts.
Anthony Rizzo registered a run-scoring double and scored himself in the third inning as the Cubs went ahead 2-1, then doubled again during a four-run fifth that pushed the lead to 6-1.
Washington’s Gio Gonzalez pitched six scoreless inning to guide the Nationals to a 2-0 win against Kansas City.
Ryan Zimmerman and Daniel Murphy drove in first-inning runs and that was enough for Washington to extend their winning run to four games, staying 1-1/2 games clear in the NL East.
St Louis’ Adam Wainwright pitched six innings and hit a three-run home run as the Cardinals snapped a four-game skid and beat Philadelphia 10-3.
Wainwright, who has struggled since missing most of last season with an Achilles tendon injury, has won two straight after starting the season 0-3.
The Cardinals overcame an early 3-0 deficit and avoided their first five-game losing run since 2013.
Texas’ Nomar Mazara hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning to give the Rangers a 2-1 win at Toronto and their fifth win in six games.
Named the AL’s top rookie for last month earlier in the day, Mazara broke a 1-1 tie with a shot to center.
In the bottom of the eighth, Mazara preserved the one-run lead by throwing out the runner at home plate to end the inning.
Seattle’s Robinson Cano had three hits and scored twice as the Mariners edged Oakland 4-3.
Kyle Seager hit a tiebreaking double in the sixth inning for the Mariners.
San Francisco rallied against Cincinnati’s struggling bullpen, riding Brandon Crawford’s three-run homer to a 9-6 victory over the Reds.
The New York Mets made it nine wins in 10 games by beating Atlanta 4-1, set up by David Wright, Yoenis Cespedes and Lucas Duda all hitting home runs in the first inning.
Milwaukee’s Jimmy Nelson pitched seven strong innings and drove in the go-ahead run to lead the Brewers past the Los Angeles Angels 8-5.
San Diego’s Matt Kemp hit a two-run double in the first inning and that proved enough to secure a 2-1 win against Colorado.
Minnesota beat the Astros 6-2.
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