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CHICAGO -- Anthony Rizzo wasted little time in getting to Adam Wainwright. Wes Hopkins . Rizzo hit a two-run single in the first that ended Wainwrights scoreless streak at 25 innings, and the Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 Friday for their third win in four games. "Im not trying to do too much," Rizzo said. "See the ball and hit it, really try to swing at the pitches I want to hit, not pitchers pitches. Especially with Wainwright, his stuff is so good hes going to eat you alive." Wainwright (5-2) had allowed six runs in 45 innings coming in, but the Cubs matched the runs total in just five innings against the St. Louis ace, who gave up 10 hits. His ERA rose from 1.20 to 2.16. "They did a nice job of spoiling some pitches," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said of his batters. "Youve got to give them all the credit. They grinded out some at-bats today and reaped some benefits." Wainwright had been 6-0 in 12 previous starts and five relief appearances at Wrigley Field. "There were certain pitches today I didnt have good command over," he said. "My curveball was kind of sporadic in the zone and out of the zone, which is pretty rare for me. Its a funny game. Today was not my day. I accept that and take responsibility for today and move on." The scoreless streak was one inning shy of the career high for Wainwright, who had not allowed an extra-base hit since April 12 against the Cubs in St. Louis. "Hes been incredibly consistent through this season so far. ... You can see pitches were just on the edge and not where he wanted them or werent getting called," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "Its a frustrating day when he knows our guys put some offence up for him and we just cant stop them. He limited the damage and figured out ways to keep us in it. We had some chances." Rizzo added a leadoff home run in the fifth that put Chicago ahead 6-3. Welington Castillo had three doubles for Chicago, which sent the skidding Cardinals to their 10th loss in 16 games. Travis Wood (2-3) gave up three runs -- two earned -- and six hits in seven innings but allowed just one runner in his final three innings. Justin Grimm gave up Jhonny Peraltas two-run homer in the eighth, Hector Rondon pitched a perfect ninth for his second save. Cubs centerfielder Ryan Sweeney made a catch on the run in the eighth on a drive to right-centre by Allen Craig. Sweeney injured his right hamstring and was replaced by Emilio Bonifacio, who moved from second. "It was great determination," Renteria said. "Hammys hurt." St. Louis overcame its early deficit, tying the game in the third when Matt Carpenter singled in a run and scored on Peraltas double. Chicago loaded the bases in the bottom half on a pair of walks around Starlin Castros single. Ryan Sweeney drove in the go-ahead run with a weak grounder to second that allowed Rizzo to score from third, and Castillo followed with a two-out, two-run double. Castros throwing error from shortstop on Randal Grichuks grounder allowed Yadier Molina to score from third and cut the deficit to 5-3 in the fourth. NOTES: Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said RHP Jose Veras (left oblique strain) will begin his rehab assignment at Double-A Tennessee and pitch at some point in the next few days, depending on how he feels. ... Cubs prospect OF Jorge Soler (hamstring) is progressing at the teams facility in Mesa, Arizona. Hoyer said "the reports have been good" and he hopes Soler will join Tennessee soon. ... RHP Jack Arrieta is to make his big league season debut for the Cubs when he starts Saturday. RHP Michael Wacha (2-2) is slated to slart for St. Louis. 19:27ET 02-05-14 Connor Barwin Eagles Jersey . -- The Royals have agreed to terms with 10 players not yet eligible for arbitration on major league contracts, including outfielders Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson. Darren Sproles . Blake Griffin had 27 points and eight rebounds, Chris Paul added 19 points -- including a go-ahead layup in the final minute -- and the Clippers beat the Hawks 109-108 on Saturday night for their season-high seventh straight win. "In the locker room, I almost felt like we lost the game, because we expect a lot from themselves," Paul said.TSN Hockey Insiders Bob McKenzie, Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger have the latest on security and safety at the Sochi Games, if the NHL is ready to expand video review, who might be available in Edmonton, could Matt Moulson be a member of the Senators, and more. Who might be available and who might be on the move in Edmonton? Darren Dreger: Sam Gagner, we know. Ales Hemsky, we know. Ryan Smyth is expected. Theres no dialog between Craig MacTavish and Ryan Smyth. The belief is that Smyth wants one more crack with a winning team to see if he can win the Stanley Cup. Hes still effective, at least in the offensive zone, so I expect his name will heat up as we get closer to the deadline. Could Matt Moulson be heading to Ottawa? Pierre LeBrun: Matt Moulson will be a very popular name as the March deadline approaches. We know hes one of the guys the LA Kings are looking at, but the Ottawa Senators are another team. A little bit of a connection with the Senators, as GM Bryan Murrays nephew Tim Murray is now GM in Buffalo. Moulsons a guy that if the Senators can stay in the playoff mix over the next few weeks, I believe they will make inquiries on him. Might Thomas Vanek, who was part of the Moulson trade, re-sign on Long Island? LeBrun: He has liked it on Long Island a lot more than he thought he would. You hear these stories about the Islanders and playing in a bad rink but Vanek has really enjoyed his time there. He loves playing with John Tavares and he likes the way hes been treated by Garth Snow, so hes got a big decision to make. I think at the end of the day hes still going to go to free agency, which makes him force the hand of Snow. For Snow, thats the number one priority; to sign Vanek before the trade deadline. How big an issue is security and safety at the Sochi Olympics? Dreger: It is a concerning issue. The threat of terrorism always is going to be concerning for a world spectacle such as this and thats not lost on neither the Players Association and National Hockey League. Both will tell you that their guest list, be it family or friends, is reducing on a week-by-week basis leading up to the Olympic Games but the NHL is confident that their safety will be insured by the Russian government and the International Olympic Organization. But iff there were significant terrorist attempts or attacks prior to the Olympics in Sochi, I think that the NHL and the NHLPA also wouldnt hesitate to remove themselves from the Games. Chuck Bednarik Eagles Jersey. Is the NHL ready to expand video review and when? LeBrun: I think more than ever. Its all about timing and I can tell you right now that its on the GMs agenda in March when they will again tackle this. But this time, I think the league might finally get its way. We know that hockey operations has wanted to expand video review for a long time and if they get their way this year, not only will they get it moving forward but maybe even for the playoffs if they can get the owners and the NHLPA to sign off. Lots of "ifs" but certainly theres a different movement here. Bob McKenzie: I believe that Detroit goal on Saturday night was the tipping point for general managers. GMs in the past have overwhelmingly been against expanding video review but after Saturday night, I surveyed 23 NHL GMs and 22 of them said we cannot have a repeat of what happened on Saturday night. The one GM who didnt say that said they have to discuss what theyre going to do. Now, how exactly they go about that is the controversial aspect. Some guys want the coachs challenge, some guys want it only to be on the very specific play where a puck comes off the mesh, and some guys want the referees to be able to review it at the penalty bench. Its all over the map and how they process this is the controversial aspect to it. But after that goal that was scored on Saturday night, many general managers said could you imagine if the Stanley Cup was decided on a goal like that. Does anything come of Sens owner Eugene Melnyk presenting the NHL Matt Cooke investigation evidence? McKenzie: No, it doesnt. When this incident happened last season, Melnyk said that he believed in his heart that Cooke had malice and intentionally severed the tendon of Erik Karlsson. He said afterwards he was going to prove it and talked about a forensic investigation. He spent a lot of time, effort and money and put together a fully detailed medical report and presented that to the NHL in New York City on Monday. Theres not going to be any retroactive justice here, but Eugene Melnyk had his day in court, so to speak, and did what he said he was going to do. ' ' ' |
