Marlins Beat Cubs 4-3 After Losing Alvarez
CHICAGO (AP) -
Pedro Strop hit Giancarlo Stanton with a pitch in the eighth inning then threw a wild pitch that allowed the Miami slugger to score the go-ahead run, and the Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 Sunday.
Marlins starter Henderson Alvarez left the game because of a left hip injury and is day to day.
Trailing 3-2 after Luis Valbuena walked with the bases loaded in the seventh, the Marlins scored twice off Strop (0-3) in the eighth. Garrett Jones' sacrifice fly to left tied it. Then Stanton scored on a wild pitch to give Miami its first lead of the day.
Steve Cishek pitched a scoreless ninth for his 14th save in 15 tries, helping Miami avoid the sweep and end Chicago's five-game winning streak. The Cubs were deprived of the chance for their first six-game run since winning seven straight from July 31-Aug. 6, 2011.
Mike Dunn (5-3) got two outs for the win.
But Miami's victory was overshadowed by the loss of Alvarez, who entered the day having thrown 21 consecutive scoreless innings.
With one out in the sixth inning of a scoreless tie, Valbuena grounded to Jones at first. Jones' toss to first was high. Alvarez reached to tap the base with his right foot but missed and landed awkwardly, and straining his left hip.
After being attended to by the Miami training staff and manager Mike Redmond, Alvarez threw one warmup pitch to see if he could continue but quickly left the mound. Left-hander Dan Jennings then entered.
Alvarez extended his scoreless innings streak to 26 before leaving, but it ended when Nate Schierholtz tripled down the right field line against Jennings to drive in two and give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.
Alvarez is day to day for a Miami team that has already lost star right-hander Jose Fernandez for the season after he underwent Tommy John surgery.
Cubs starter Jake Arrieta, meanwhile, allowed three hits and struck out seven to match a personal season best. He left with a 2-0 lead but Miami tied it with two in the seventh against Chicago reliever Brian Schlitter, getting consecutive two-out RBI singles from J.T. Realmuto and Adeiny Hechavarria.
That rally got Alvarez off the hook for what would've been a tough-luck loss.
Before getting hurt, the Marlins right-hander kept the Cubs in check for most of the day. He went 5 1-3 innings and allowed two runs - one earned - while striking out five.
Alvarez narrowly missed extending his streak past Luis Aquino's 26 1-3 scoreless in 1994, the second-longest run in Marlins history.
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