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Lester, Bryant lower Cubs’ magic number to 7
- Updated: September 10, 2016
HOUSTON — He could have been an Astro, and on Friday night, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant served up a reminder of the kind of impact he could have had at Minute Maid Park.
Bryant, taken by the Cubs as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2013 Draft after the Astros passed on him with the top pick, clubbed a two-run homer in the fifth inning to back seven scoreless from Jon Lester to send the Cubs to a 2-0 win over the Astros, lowering Chicago’s magic number to 7.
“It still feels like we’re just right in the middle of the season, but we feel like we’re getting to baseball that actually really matters,” Bryant said. “Anything can happen in the full season, so you’ve got to get there first, and we certainly feel like we’re playing really good baseball right now.”
The Astros have lost three in a row and remain 2 1/2 games back in the race for the second American League Wild Card spot behind both the Orioles and Tigers, who drew even on Friday with Detroit’s 4-3 win over Baltimore.
“We did have some chances,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “Lester’s a good pitcher and he has a way of finding himself out of these jams. We did get the leadoff runner on about half the innings against Lester but couldn’t quite get the big hit. We stayed very aggressive on the bases, we stole a few bases, we made one out on the base at third, but overall it was a really well-pitched game on both sides. It was the difference being a two-out walk and a spinning breaking ball and we lose, 2-0.”
The win gives the Cubs at least 90 victories for the 24th time in club history and for the second consecutive season. It’s also the first time they have recorded consecutive 90-win seasons since a three-year run in 1928 (91), 1929 (98) and 1930 (90).
MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDBryant blasts one: After Dexter Fowler’s leadoff triple, the Cubs were held without a hit until Bryant boomed his two-run shot — No. 37 of the season — a Statcast-projected 370 feet to the Crawford Boxes. In his debut at Minute Maid Park, Bryant went …
