7/3 Morning Marquee: Cubs complete sweep of Red Sox at Fenway

Despite the ups-and-downs the 2014 season has brought Chicago Cubs’ fans, Wednesday night was definitely an ‘up.’

Ricky Renteria’s ball club finished off a three-game sweep of the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park thanks to an offensive explosion totaling 16 runs on 19 hits. The game fell three minutes short of being the longest nine-inning contest in franchise history, topping out at 4 hours and 19 minutes.

With the win, the Cubs improved to 37-46, while Boston fell to 38-47 – a shocking set of numbers for both organizations’ fans. Chicago and Boston have near identical records a week prior to the All-Star break, despite two very different set of expectations entering the season.

In other news around the league, right-hander Julio Teheran led Atlanta past the Mets at home on Wednesday night, the New York Yankees opened the international signing period with a big-money spending spree and the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright became the National League’s first 11-game winner, topping San Francisco on the road.

Here’s some of the top story lines from around Major League Baseball.

“Cubs complete three-game sweep of Red Sox” – Cubbies Crib

“Teheran leads Atlanta to seventh straight win” – MLB.com

“Padres sign smith to two-year extension” – ESPN

“Wainwright’s league’s first 11-game winner” – Cardinals.com

“Yanks open international period with a spree” – MLB.com