Marlins Get By Cubs

    Marlins pitcher Henderson Alvarez got his first major league career home run and picked up the win as the Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 at Wrigley Field on Monday night. The Marlins won their second straight game after they dropped their previous six games and 10 of 11 to end the month of August.
    All the scoring in this game happened in the first two innings. Christian Yelich was the second batter of the game for Miami(51-85) during the first inning. He smacked a one-out solo home run on a 3-2 pitch to right field against Travis Wood for his third career homer.
    Chicago(58-79) quickly responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame off Alvarez. Stalin Castro led off with a single to left and advanced to third as Luis Valbuena slashed a base hit to right field. Castro scored on a single into right field by Anthony Rizzo and Dioner Navarro followed with a base hit to right to score Valbuena. Nate Schierholtz brought Rizzo in on a sacrifice fly to center.
    In the second inning, the Fish put up three runs to regain the lead. Ed Lucas started with a double into right field, Donovan Solano struck out and Lucas went to third on a base hit by Jeff Mathis to left. Alvarez connected with the first pitch that Wood threw as he bashed a one-out, three-run homer to left field.
    Alvarez improved to 3-3 as he allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings. Wood fell to 8-11 as he pitched seven innings and surrendered four runs on nine hits.