Rookie Yelich leads Marlins past Cubs
CHICAGO -- Christian Yelich has been in the major leagues less than six weeks, but he's putting up numbers like he's a seasoned pro.
The Miami rookie outfielder went 3-for-5, drove in two runs and scored what proved to be the game-winner in the fifth inning as the Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs 6-2 Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.
"He just continues to get more and more confident day in and day out," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. "He gives us a great at-bat every time. He's a great young player, and he's going to be a great player in the big leagues for a long time."
Donovan Solano added three hits for Miami.
The victory was the Marlins' third straight. The Cubs dropped their second in a row.
Right-hander Ryan Webb (2-5), the third of five Marlins pitchers, pitched
two scoreless innings and was credited with the win.
"The bullpen came in and did a nice job and Webby gave us some big outs," Redmond said. "We were fortunate enough to put some nice at-bats together. There were a lot of good things out there tonight."
Chicago used six pitchers, including Zach Rosscup, who got two outs in
the sixth inning in his major league debut. Starter Edwin Jackson (7-15)
struggled with his fastball and allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings, throwing 104 pitches.
"There was not a lot of fastball command there in the zone," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said.
"Today was a prime example of what happens when you don't really pitch off of your fastball," Jackson said. "For 100-plus pitches and 40 percent sliders, that's way too much ... I could have done a better job."
Miami scored three times in the top of the fifth, and Chicago responded
with two in the bottom of the inning. The Marlins rounded out the scoring
with a three-run eighth inning.
In the fifth, Yelich's one-out double drove in starting pitcher Tom
Koehler from second for a 1-0 lead, with Solano advancing to third. Koehler
walked to open the inning, and Solano singled to right-center.
Giancarlo Stanton lined a hit to left to score Solano for a 2-0 edge. Yelich came home when Justin Ruggiano's grounder to short was bobbled by Starlin Castro.
Brian Bogusevic led off the home half of the inning with his third homer
of the season, a shot to left-center.
Koehler then issued walks to Castillo and Junior Lake with no outs and
loaded the bases with one out when he hit Luis Valbuena with a pitch. That was it for Koehler, leaving left-handed reliever Dan Jennings to face Anthony Rizzo.
Rizzo launched a sacrifice fly to right to score Castillo and cut the
deficit to 3-2, but Nate Schierholtz grounded to second to end the inning.
"When you give up the leadoff home run thing -- things like that are going to happen," Koehler said. "But after that you've got to shut them down. I don't know if it was a combination of trying to do too much and losing the zone or them being a little more patient, but it's one of those innings that can't happen."
Solano's two-out, eighth-inning double off Cubs reliever Blake Parker scored Jeff Mathis and Chris Coghlan. Yelich drove home Solano with a single to left.
Koehler, who was hit in the calf by a Castro liner in the third inning worked 4 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on four hits. He struck out four and walked three.
NOTES: The Cubs recalled RHP Justin Grimm, LHP Brooks Raley and J.C.
Boscan from Triple-A Iowa and also purchased the contract of Rosscup from
Iowa. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Cubs designated OF Dave Sappelt
for assignment. ... Chicago also honored 3B Kris Bryant and RHP Pierce
Johnson as its minor league player and pitcher of the month. Both play for Class A Daytona. ... Late Monday, the Marlins called up LHP Brad Hand, RHP Arquimedes Caminero and C Rob Brantly from Triple-A New Orleans, selected the contract of LHP Brian Flynn from New Orleans and designated OF Jordan Brown for assignment. Flynn is scheduled to start Wednesday's series finale against Cubs RHP Jeff Samardzija (8-11). ... Miami has an off day Thursday, then will play 21 games in 20 days, Sept. 6-25.
