Morning Marquee: Anthony Rizzo plays hero; Brewers unload Gomez, Fiers

The Chicago Cubs were able to open up their four-game road trip in Milwaukee with a win thanks to first baseman and All-Star, Anthony Rizzo who launched the go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth inning to give his team the 3-2 lead.

Joe Maddon‘s group of young pups wouldn’t stop there, scoring an additional two runs in the ninth to boost their way to a 5-2 victory.

Just a day after southpaw Jon Lester struck out 14 batter’s, Jake Arrieta took the mound in hopes of putting himself back in the win column after going 4-1 over his last five outings.

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Arrieta picked up a no-decision against the last-place Brewers, allowing two earned runs on five hits with four walks and six strikeouts prior to being pulled after the sixth inning.

Thankfully, the men who worked out of the bullpen were able to keep the Brewers in their place. Just like the Colorado Rockies just a couple of days ago, the Brew Crew entered last night’s contest without outfielder Carlos Gomez and right-hander Mike Fiers in the dugout.

In case you missed it, this just so happened to be the home stretch for the trade deadline and things really got interesting pretty quick. The Kansas City Royals were able to nab right-hander Johnny Cueto from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for multiple pitching prospects while the Houston Astros reeled in two key pieces and a slot in the international pool in 2015-2016. 

Houston sent pitchers Josh Hader, Adrian Houser and outfielders Brett Phillips and Domingo Santana to complete the deal.

So far every team in the N.L. Central but the Chicago Cubs have made a trade that either improved their depth chart or will help them gear up for next season.

It’s somewhat disappointing knowing that even the two teams near the bottom of the division are at least getting something in return. Hopefully, Theo Epstein will land at least Tyson Ross and another bat within the next couple of hours.

Which brings us to shortstop Starlin Castro.

Castro, who was told by his skipper that he wasn’t going to be traded, is still in the thick of the rumor mill. There’s still a high price there for the young shortstop, so it’ll be interesting to see if anything happens this season.

There’s still prospects such as Dan Vogelbach, Albert Almora, Junior Lake, and even Matt Szczur who should be considered valuable trade pieces that should bring in some attention.

We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Here’s more from around the league:

‘Cubs Rumors: What’s the latest on Starlin Castro?‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘MLB Trade Deadline: Four Padres that make sense for the Cubs‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘Walk-off walk wins wild game for Cardinals‘ – Redbird Rants

‘Chicken soup for the San Francisco Giants fan soul: 2015 trade deadline‘ – Around The Foghorn

‘Is Aaron Blair on the way out?‘ – Venom Strikes

Next: Cubs Recap: Rizzo's late homer lifts Cubs to win