Chicago Cubs snatch 6-4 victory against San Francisco Giants – MLB Update
The Chicago Cubs offence kept its magical touch on Friday, August 31, to help the team beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4 at Wrigley Field. Alfonso Soriano smashed a two-run homer followed by a solo homer by a seemingly out of form Anthony Rizzo to snatch a decent victory.
Anthony Rizzo was excited about it, saying the team wants to win.
"The last month, we want to win," Rizzo said. "We want to play .500 baseball in September, and everyone in here wants to finish strong. It's a cliche, but we want to build as much momentum in September going into Spring Training and moving forward."
Chris Volstad played his critical role as well, pitching a wonderfully solid 5.2 innings to allow only two runs and five hits to keep the Giants at bay. Madison Bumgarner of the Giants, on the other hand, was subject to big hits by the Cubs' offence as he gave up five runs and six hits in his four innings.
Soriano made a perfect start with his single to left, giving the team a 1-0 lead followed by his two-run homer in the third which made it 3-0 for the Cubs. Before Bumgarner could adjust, Wellington Castillo then hit a double in the gap at left centre to make it 5-0 by the end of the third.
Buster Posey was first to score for the Giants, but Anthony Rizzo came back with a homer to left centre, taking the lead to 6-1.
Things might not have been good enough for the Cubs, but Rizzo sounded optimistic.
"I know [losing 100 games] is something I don't want to be a part of," Rizzo said. "I think our magic number is down to 12 wins now. We're not going to lose 100 games. It's something we're all motivated enough to do."
Giants did their bid to stage a comeback with Pablo Sandoval’s sacrifice fly to right in the sixth, Buster Posey’s single to centre and Hunter Pence’s with a groundout in the eighth. However, Carlos Marmol tossed a scoreless and hitless ninth to win the game by 6-4 and have a 1-0 lead in the three-game series.
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