Morning Marquee: Chicago Cubs sweep the New York Mets

For the first time this season, the second-place Chicago Cubs have swept a four-game set after rallying back to defeat the New York Mets by the score of 6-5 Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

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New York pelted Cubs’ starter Travis Wood for five earned runs behind three home runs in just 4 1/3 innings before forcing skipper Joe Maddon to start using his bullpen early in the game. Wood has struggled in each of his three starts in the month of May, surrendering a combined 15 earned runs on 19 hits in just 13 1/3 frames as of today.

The end of this five-man rotation has stumbled thus far, as rookie Kyle Hendricks is yet to crack the win column, but hopes to do so later on as the Cubs welcome in the Pittsburgh Pirates for a three-game weekend series. Hopefully, the bats will be able to bail him out, or at least keep themselves in the game if things get out of control.

Outfielder Dexter Fowler got his team on the board in the bottom half of the fourth with a solo blast to left field as a right-handed hitter, his third of the year which made it a 3-1 ballgame. Both Wilmer Flores and Anthony Recker went back-to-back off during the top half of the inning.

New York would extend their lead to 5-1 just moments later on a two-run single by John Mayberry with two outs in the inning after Lucas Duda doubled to center field. Chicago would then turn on the jets by plating four runs in the bottom half of the fifth, eventually grabbing the lead in the seventh on a passed ball.

Thursday’s victory marked career win No. 800 for Maddon.

While Maddon enjoyed his team completing their first sweep of the month, Miguel Cabrera, and the Detroit Tigers enjoyed a 13-1 mauling of the Minnesota Twins. Cabrera recorded his third multi-home run game of the season after clubbing career No. 397 and No. 398 of his career as he continues to claw his way through opposing pitchers.

The 32-year-old veteran drove in a run on an RBI single in the first inning, then finally connected for his seventh bomb of the season in the seventh after lining and grounding out in his previous two at-bats. He followed that up with another two-run bomb in his next at-bat after Ian Kinsler drove in a run on an RBI triple to center field.

Here’s more from around the league:

‘Cabrera homers twice as Detroit Tigers clobber Twins 13-1‘ – MotorCityBengals

‘Last-place Oakland Athletics can fight their way back into contention‘ – CallToThePen

‘Troy Tulowitzki not forcing trade out of Colorado‘ – ESPN.com

‘CarGo homers to down Dodgers, end skid‘ – MLB.com

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