Bud Norris shines as Houston Astros beat Chicago Cubs 3-0 – MLB Update
Bud Norris on Tuesday, October 2, pitched six solid innings to help the Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 at Wrigley Field. This was the second consecutive Astros win against the Cubs, and third in line after they beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the finale of three-game series.
"The team won three in a row. That's the way we're looking at it," Norris said. "We're trying end this thing strong and play it all the way through."
It was Norris’ quality pitches and the inability of the Chicago Cubs' batters to live up to expectations again that resulted in the latter’s defeat, something that disappointed the team manager.
"Not a lot of quality at-bats again, left some guys on, striking out with guys in scoring position again," Cubs' manager Dale Sveum said. "It's kind of typifying the whole season, these last two nights swinging the bats."
Although Chris Volstad did his bit with seven solid innings, surrendering only two runs and giving up five hits, the Cubs' offence seemed too weak to fight off the Astros' pitchers.
Jason Castro of the Houston Astros smashed a homer in the second to give the team a 1-0 lead followed by Tyler Greene’s single in the second to double the Astros lead. Norris, afterwards, came down hard on the Cubs' batters, keeping them on hold to maintain a 2-0 lead.
Coming in the eighth inning, Alberto Cabrera of the Cubs was taken to task by Brian Bogusevic and scored a run to triple the lead for the Astros.
Astros' relievers Xavier Cedeno, Chuckie Fick, and Wesley Wright, taking a cue from Norris, threw effective innings to maintain the Astros lead. It was Wilton Lopez, coming as the closer, pitched a scoreless and hitless innings to end the game with 3-0 win for the Astros.
The Astros now have 15-14 record since September 1. Although they are ending the season being at the bottom of the National League Central, the manager has a positive take as a whole.
"Either way, we're going to finish strong," team manager DeFrancesco said. "We're going to finish .500 for the month, and we're really excited about the future, what's going on for next season."
Houston will be looking to work on improving their team and tactics before the next regular season.
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