Morning Marquee: Chicago Cubs drop stormy 10-8 slug fest to Tigers

Tigers jump on Hammel in the first, Strop in the eighth

For about the seventh time this season, the Chicago Cubs were delayed for about two hours due to heavy rainfall when trailing the Detroit Tigers by the score of 5-2 early in the game. Detroit would eventually claw their way to victory in the eighth inning with Pedro Strop on the mound shortly after Kyle Schwarber and Anthony Rizzo tied things up at six apiece.

Veteran infielder, Ian Kinsler sparked Detroit’s offense early with a home run to left field to put the Tigers (57-61) in the lead. Miguel Cabrera lined a hard hit ball to left which was grabbed over the basket by a fan that was later escorted from the stadium due to fan interference.

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It was originally called as a home run until the umpire crew got together to review the footage. Still, Hammel (6-5, 3.38 ERA) surrendered another home run to J.D. Martinez to straight away center field – a two-run shot and his 31st big fly of the year which gave his team the 3-0.

Chris Coghlan brought his team within one run with a two-run homer of his own during the bottom half of the inning, but the Cubs (67-50) were unable to drive in runs until the fifth inning.

With the Cubs trailing 6-2, rookie Addison Russell recorded his first big league triple on a hard hit ball to center field with two outs in the inning. Dexter Fowler worked a five-pitch walk and would later come around to score along with Russell on a three-run home run off the bat of another red-hot rookie, Kyle Schwarber.

Schwarber turned on a 95 miles per hour fastball that was nearly eyeball level and nearly sent it out to Sheffield. Coghlan kept the inning alive with a single to Anthony Gose who homered earlier in the game and scored moments later on an RBI single by Rizzo to tie the game.

With the bases full of Tigers, Strop gave up the go-ahead sacrifice fly to Martinez to score Kinsler, making it 7-6 in favor of the visiting team. Nick Castellanos – who was robbed of a hit by Russell earlier in the game – busted things wide open with a two-run single to right field, extending the lead to 9-6.

Rizzo attempted to put together a ninth inning rally by grounding into a fielder’s choice to push Schwarber across home plate while Coghlan scored from third on a missed catch by James McCann behind the plate.

The Cubs have dropped their two previous games, but will send southpaw Jon Lester to the mound in hopes of getting back to their winning ways. At least the Giants were shutout by the Cardinals, which is a plus.

Here’s more from around the league:

‘Chicago Cubs: N.L. Central dominates ESPN’s MLB Power Rankings‘ – Cubbies Crib

‘San Francisco Giants shut out by Cardinals‘ – Around The Foghorn

‘Nationals Recap: Yunel Escobar sparks Nats offense to 15-6 win‘ – District On Deck

‘Kansas City Royals outlast Cincinnati Reds 3-1 in 13 innings‘ – Kings of Kauffman

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