Storm- News » PHILADELPHIA (AP) — One of the hottest pitchers

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — One of the hottest pitchers in baseball was at his best early on http://www.redsfanproshop.com/authentic-tom-seaver-jersey , yet the Cubs‘ high-powered hitters didn’t get discouraged.Javier Baez hit one of three solo home runs off Cy Young contender Aaron Nola to reach 30 home runs and 100 RBIs, and Jon Lester pitched six shutout innings to continue his mastery of the Phillies in NL Central-leading Chicago’s 8-1 victory over Philadelphia on Sunday.Daniel Murphy and Anthony Rizzo also went deep off Nola (15-4), who gave up three home runs in a game for the second time over 88 starts in his four-year career.Murphy’s homer was a game changer. Nola fanned seven of the first nine hitters before Murphy’s two-out shot to right field in the third inning gave Chicago a 1-0 lead.“It can really lead to a frustrating dugout,” Lester said of the early struggles, “but you didn’t hear it or see it.”Murphy looked bad while weakly fouling off the previous two pitches before launching a 1-2, 94-mph fastball into the seats“We just grind out at-bats,” Murphy said. “We really made Aaron work today.”Chicago, which has won 10 of 12, leads the Cardinals by 5 ½ games.“We’ve been playing as well as we’ve played all year the last two weeks,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “The guys have been doing wonderfully and it’s impressive.”Lester (15-5) surrendered eight hits, struck out seven and walked none while improving to 8-0 with a 1.49 ERA in 10 career regular-season starts against the Phillies.The Phillies began the day three games back of Atlanta, which hosted Pittsburgh on Sunday night. Jorge Alfaro had two hits, including an RBI double in the ninth, for Philadelphia.“That’s just an incredible offense, and today they just won http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-b.j.-upton-jersey ,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. “I think that’s the long and short of it.”Kapler moved Nola up a day to give him another start at home, where the star right-hander has been dominant. It backfired. Nola gave up four runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings with 11 strikeouts and two walks.“Every loss right now hurts as a team, but I’m going to put this one behind me,” Nola said.Rizzo led off the fourth by hitting an 0-1, 85 mph changeup over the wall in left, and Baez, the league leader in RBIs entering Sunday, hit a 1-2 fastball out to left in the sixth.Nola also gave up an RBI triple to Kyle Schwarber in the sixth to snap a string of 17 straight home starts allowing three runs or less. He dropped to 9-1 at home, where his ERA rose from 1.94 to 2.21. Nola’s overall ERA increased from 2.10 to 2.23.The other top contenders for the NL Cy Young, Washington’s Max Scherzer and the Mets’ Jacob deGrom, will pitch on Monday.NOT HIS DAYNola continued to struggle on Sept. 2. The right-hander has allowed multiple homers in a game 10 times, including all three starts he has made on Sept. 2 (2018, 2017 and 2015). Overall, Nola has a 9.82 ERA on Sept. 2 while allowing 24 hits, including seven homers http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-omar-vizquel-jersey , over 14 2/3 innings.NOLA’S NEMESISMurphy is batting .345 (10 for 29) with two homers and six RBIs against Nola.CARDS ALLOWEDMajor League Baseball has told teams that it’s OK for pitchers to use the kind of scouting cards that umpire Joe West confiscated from Philadelphia reliever Austin Davis on the mound Saturday.Kapler said Sunday that he’d been informed the cards were legal. They are, provided they don’t delay games, MLB told clubs in clarifying the policy.GREAT COMPANYThe 25-year-old Baez became the fifth Cubs player to reach 30 homers and 100 RBIs in a season before age 25 or during the year reaching that age, joining Ernie Banks, Kris Bryant, Rizzo and Ron Santo.TRAINER’S ROOMPhillies: 1B Justin Bour, out since Aug. 23 with a left oblique strain, was activated from the DL.UP NEXTCubs: LHP Cole Hamels (9-9, 3.70) looks to remain perfect with the Cubs on Monday afternoon in Milwaukee, where he faces RHP Zach Davies (2-5, 5.23). Hamels is 4-0 with a 0.69 ERA in six starts since being traded to Chicago from Texas.Phillies: Begin six-game road trip with a three-game set at Miami on Monday afternoon, with RHP Vince Velasquez (9-9, 4.05) opposing Marlins RHP Jose Urena (4-12, 4.56). SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Kansas City Royals pitcher Eric Skoglund broke down in tears Saturday Jason Kipnis Jersey , talking publicly for the first time since Major League Baseball gave him an 80-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs.Skoglund said he is bewildered about what triggered the positive results. The penalty was imposed last month and will begin at the start of the season.“We have no idea,” Skoglund said in a media room at the Royals’ spring training complex.“That’s the hardest part. Something got into my body without me knowing, it was scary. It just makes you think what could have been.”“That’s the hardest part to deal with, not knowing because I’m not a guy that’s going to cheat the game. I didn’t do anything maliciously. It’s not the type of person I am. It’s not in my character. It’s not how I was raised. So it stinks. We couldn’t find anything and that’s what is going to eat me for the rest of my career. It’s not a good feeling at all,” the left-hander said.Asked how it felt to tell Royals general manager Dayton Moore about the suspension, Skoglund became very emotional and could not finish his sentence.“A relief,” he said. “I was in a pretty tough spot, but.”With his eyes watery, Skoglund did not say another word before exiting the room.He returned after a few minutes to finish the answer.“It was a relief,” Skoglund said. “I was just going through a lot these last couple of months. I knew I didn’t do anything maliciously, so having his support was a good feeling for me, definitely helped.”He said only his parents and girlfriend knew about the suspension before he talked to Moore.“I was very fortunate I was able to have my girlfriend and my family by my side during that time just because it was extremely tough and I wasn’t able to speak to anyone about it,” he said. “I was bouncing all around the country just trying to stay afloat mentally.”Skoglund, who was a Royals’ rotation candidate after going 1-6 with a 5.14 ERA, remains confused on why he tested positive for selective androgen receptor modulators S-22 (Ostarine) and LGD-4033 (Ligandrol).“I didn’t change anything in my offseason that I had done in previous offseasons Lonnie Chisenhall Jersey ,” Skoglund said. “The only thing I did was eat cleaner. We didn’t have any information. They said if you try to appeal, you’re probably not going to win. At that point, I just wanted to let the Royals know I was pretty beat inside and it was just eating at me.“I just would rather tell them than appeal for another month and not be able to tell anyone and lose. It would just make me worse mentally, physically, so I just wanted to get it out there with Dayton and the front office,” he said.He said he the only vitamins and supplements he ingested during the offseason came from the Royals’ medical staff and were passed out at the end of season.“I wish I had an answer,” he said.The 6-foot-7, 26-year-old was a 2014 third-round pick out of Central Florida.He was limited to 14 games, 13 of them starts, last season after going on the 60-day disabled list with an elbow strain.He returned in September, where he had a 1.33 ERA and held opponents to a .157 batting average in four games.