Bryant leads the way for Cubs in marathon win
Going 4-5 on the day, Chicago third baseman Kris Bryant helped the Cubs keep pace in Thursday's back-and-forth affair.

Bryant leads the way for Cubs in marathon win


by - Correspondent -

CHICAGO -- Today’s game featured a bit of everything from pickoffs to throwing errors and back again. In fact, a throwing error cost the Phillies the game when Freddy Galvis overthrew first base which allowed Albert Almora to score from the third to end the game by a score of 5-4.. Galvis was also the victim of a go-ahead play by Willson Contreras the game before when the young catcher took home by surprise and Galvis bounced the throw off of the pitching mound.

Joe Maddon decided to give some of his outfield starters rest by plugging in Jon Jay into left and giving Matt Szczur a start in right field.

John Lackey (2-3, 5.14 ERA) did not issue a run in the first inning; something Cubs starters have had a problem with in recent games. In fact, he did not run into trouble until the third inning when Cesar Hernandez singled, stole second, and scored on a single from Aaron Altherr. Maikel Franco would later tie the game at two with a solo home run to left-center field in the fourth inning.

Big John was helped out by the 15 mph wind blowing in from straightaway centerfield which knocked down a lot of would-be home runs. He has struggled with the long ball so far, having given up eight already this year in just six starts.

The Cubs took advantage of a clean first inning from their starter to go ahead by two after the first two innings. Addison Russell doubled in the first inning to score Bryant from first base and Szczur doubled to score Almora in the second inning.

Franco would help the Phils take the lead in the fifth on a fielder’s choice, but the Cubs answered right back when Miguel Montero hit a sacrifice fly to center and retied the game at three. Again in the eighth inning, The Phillies would take the lead, but the Cubs answered with a Montero solo shot to dead center knotting the game up at four where it would stay until the fateful error by Galvis to secure the Cubs series win.

The one thing the Cubs didn’t have a keen sense of in this game was base-running awareness. Twice a Cubs player was picked off right before the batter hit a single. Ben Zobrist who was a pinch hitter for Wade Davis in the bottom of the ninth suffered that fate at second base. Kris Bryant would hit a single to center the next pitch, having potentially jeopardized the game by being just a few feet too far from the base.

Kyle Hendricks (2-1, 4.18 ERA) and the Cubs will host Michael Pineda (3-1, 3.14 ERA) and the Yankees tomorrow at 2:20 PM EDT to start a three-game series between the two legendary clubs.

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