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Chicago Cubs back Lackey with a few homers to extend streak
By David Miniel
The Chicago Cubs have been red-hot as of late, topping the power rankings of almost every sports website there is. And last night, they continued to dominate by backing up John Lackey with a couple of deep balls to take down his former team.
At one point in time, both John Lackey and Joe Maddon were members of the Los Angeles Angels, starting off what is considered Hall of Fame careers. Last night, they helped their club pick up their 70th win of the season after Lackey was taken deep in the very first inning of the ballgame.
While manhandling the Oakland Athletics over the weekend, the Chicago Cubs scored first in each of those three games. It wasn’t the case for Lackey who gave up a solo home run to Kole Calhoun, falling behind by one run.
Lackey was lights out after that opposite field homer, storming back with six strikeouts, one walk, and holding the Angels (49-63) to a combined three hits in eight innings of work.
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The Cubbies (70-41) were finally able to get on the board when Willson Contreras drilled his six home run of the season out to left field. That would trigger a two-run inning later on in the fourth.
Second baseman Ben Zobrist, who spent his off day with his wife on Monday, drove in first baseman Anthony Rizzo with his 23rd double of the year, giving the Cubs a 2-1 lead.
He would come around to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of shortstop Addison Russell that made it a two-run lead. Last year’s N.L. Rookie of the Year hammered his 28th home run of the season in the fifth — a ball that found Waveland Avenue.
Moments after Bryant entered the dugout to a mob of high fives from his teammates, Rizzo came through with his 34th double of the year with two outs in the frame. Jorge Soler was handed an infield RBI single that pushed Rizzo across home plate and Zobrist to second.
Next: Can the Cubs convince Chapman to stay?
Angels’ starting pitcher Jered Weaver attempted to cover first base on a toss by former St. Louis Cardinals slugger, Albert Pujols but turned his attention away from the play in order to find the bag. He failed.
With the Cubs picking up their eighth straight win, the Cardinals dropped last night’s game to the Cincinnati Reds. The division lead now sits at 12 games.