Morning Marquee: Chicago Cubs drop second consecutive series

After a fantastic start to the 2015 campaign in the month of April, the Chicago Cubs have dropped two consecutive series’ in their 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday afternoon.

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Ace pitcher Jake Arrieta struggled in his outing on the road as the first-place Red Birds tagged him for five runs, four earned on nine hits with one walk and seven strikeouts across 5 1/3 innings of work. Yesterday’s loss was his third of the season while John Lackey picked up his second of the year following a stellar performance on the mound.

Unlike the previous three games, Chicago’s offense was practically non-existent, with their lone run coming on a RBI single by Starlin Castro in the top of the seventh inning. Outfielder Jorge Soler put himself in scoring position by doubling to left field shortly after Miguel Montero struck out swinging to lead off the inning.

The Cubs will continue their road trip up north to Wisconsin to take on the Milwaukee Brewers for a three-game weekend set. Jason Hammel will pick up that start opposite Jimmy Nelson with his club sitting at just one game above .500.

Speaking of the Brewers, the Los Angeles Dodgers close out that series with a huge 14-4 victory behind a huge performance from catcher Yasmani Grandal. Grandal finished the game 4-for-4 at the plate, with eight RBI coming from two home runs and a single in his final three at-bats of the game.

Both long-balls were three-run shots in the top of the eighth and ninth inning, that would pad onto their lead before locking things up in the bottom half of the ninth. Milwaukee hasn’t done much since taking the series from the Cubs at Wrigley Field, falling to 9-20 on the year while the Dodgers extended their first-place lead in the N.L. West over the San Diego Padres to four games.

Meanwhile in New York, third baseman Alex Rodriguez passed Hall of Famer Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time home run list after blasting No. 661 in the win over Baltimore. Rodriguez, 39-years-old, trails Babe Ruth by 53 for third, Hank Aaron by 93 for second and Barry Bonds by 101 for first place on the list.

The question right now is, does A-Rod have enough left in him to continue playing until he’s able to stand alone at the top of that historic mountain once it’s all said and done?

Here’s more from around the league:

‘Alex Rodriguez Hits 661st Home Run in Victory Over Baltimore‘ – YanksGoYard

‘Yasmani Grandal Drives In Eight Runs in Milwaukee Mashfest‘ – LasordasLair

‘James Russell sees things come full-circle with Chicago Cubs‘ – CubbiesCrib

‘Red Sox fire pitching coach Juan Nieves‘ – ESPN.com

‘Will Farrell getting his own baseball card‘ – MLB.com

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