Game One Hundred Ten – Cubs 3, Athletics 1
WP – Kyle Hendricks (11-7) LP – Sean Manaea (3-7) Save – Aroldis Chapman (23)
Kyle Hendricks took a two-hit shutout into the eighth inning. Hendricks retired 17 in a row after an infield single by Marcus Semien in the second inning. Semien broke up the shutout and chased Hendricks from the game with a solo home run. Pedro Strop and Aroldis Chapman retired five of six batters they faced in relief of Hendricks as the Cubs completed the sweep of the A’s in Oakland on Sunday afternoon.
Kris Bryant (2-for-3 with a home run and two walks) and Jorge Soler (2-for-4 with a home run) supplied all the runs the Cubs would need on the afternoon. Bryant launched a solo homer in the sixth for the first run in the game. Bryant set a career-high with his 27th dinger of the season. Soler crushed his second homer in three games, a solo shot in the seventh that gave Hendricks a 2-0 lead. Anthony Rizzo (1-for-4 with a double and a RBI) doubled in Dexter Fowler (1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored) with the Cubs’ third run in the eighth inning.
Sunday was all about Kyle Hendricks. The Cubs’ right-hander was locked in again and kept the A’s off balance all afternoon. Hendricks allowed three hits in 7 1/3 innings, two infield singles and the solo homer by Marcus Semien in the eighth inning.
The A’s made very little hard contact against Hendricks.
Hendricks had pinpoint control and for the second straight outing he worked extremely well with Willson Contreras. Hendricks did not allow a hit or a baserunner after the second inning. Hendricks set down 17 in a row from the second inning to the eighth. And the only mistake he made, Semien drove the 3-1 pitch out of the yard.
Hendricks’ stretch of 16 1/3 scoreless innings came to an end with the Semien homer in the eighth.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Hendricks made 100 pitches, 68 for strikes, in 7 1/3 innings.
The Cubs offense did not have a good day and ended up scoring just enough runs to win the game. The Cubs squandered numerous scoring opportunities and finished the game 2-for-10 with RISP and left eight men on base.
Matt Szczur (2-for-4 with a double), Javier Baez (1-for-4) and Ben Zobrist (1-for-3 with a double and a walk) also had hits in Sunday’s victory.
The Cubs won all three in Oakland and completed their 10th series sweep of the season.
With Sunday’s win (10-8 on Sundays in 2016), the Cubs improved to a season-high 28 games over .500 with a 69-41 record.
Monday is an off-day. The Cubs resume play Tuesday night (7:05pm CDT) at Wrigley with the first of two against the Los Angeles Angels. John Lackey is scheduled to face Jered Weaver in the opener.