Morning Marquee: Chicago Cubs split West Coast road trip; return home

With one week left in May, the Chicago Cubs will return home to Wrigley Field for a six-game home stand after splitting a six-game West Coast road trip between the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.

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This young Cubs team took two-of-three away from the Padres in San Diego only to have the tables turned on them while returning to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt made their lives difficult, hitting two huge home runs in games where the D’backs would eventually go on to win.

Chicago received most of the run support from Anthony Rizzo, who recorded six RBI during Saturday’s win with Jake Arrieta on the mound. Both Arrieta and Jon Lester were issued no-decisions in their outings but will have another chance to pick up wins this weekend when the Kansas City Royals are in town.

First, they’ll host Bryce Harper and the Washington Nationals, a team who could end up running away with the N.L. East.

With the Texas Rangers in town for a weekend series finale, the New York Yankees celebrated Bernie Williams Day before Memorial Day on Monday. Legends such as Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter returned to the diamond once again to show love and support for their long-time teammate who helped them win numerous World Series titles before the original core rode off into the sunset.

But while the organization and their fans celebrated this future Hall of Famer’s career, they suffered a series sweep at the hands of Prince Fielder and company by the score of 5-2. Fielder had a pair of RBI on the day after recording a double in the top of the first inning and a single in the seventh following a Shin-Soo Choo RBI double.

Catcher Brian McCann accounted for both of New York’s runs on a two-run single to left-center field that gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the bottom half of the first. They would lose the lead and eventually the game on a two-run home run by Adam Rosales, who gave the Rangers a 3-2 advantage just a half-inning later.

Meanwhile in St. Louis, the first-place Cardinals were able to salvage the weekend series after defeating the American League Champions’ Kansas City Royals, 6-1 on the road.

Shortstop Jhonny Peralta and Matt Adams put the Cards in charge right off the bat by driving in two runs on a single and a double to center field. Third baseman Matt Carpenter extended their lead to 4-1 in the sixth on a two-run home run, which was followed up by a two-run RBI single by Yadier Molina two innings later.

‘St. Louis Cardinals salvage finale behind Michael Wacha‘ – RedbirdRants

‘Yankees Recap: Yankees Swept On Bernie Williams Day‘ – YanksGoYard

‘Chris Coghlan going deep, but has still struggled at the plate‘ – CubbiesCrib

‘Josh Hamilton returns today, starts in left field‘ – MLB.com

‘Giants designate 3B Casey McGehee for assignment‘ – ESPN.com

Next: D'backs Sink Cubs In Series Finale