Two results that stood out among the many in another day of Major League Baseball came from two big names that don’t win that much: The Boston Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 8-6 to make it their first win after 10 consecutive losses, while the Chicago Cubs surprised the San Francisco Giants 8-4 as Jeff Samardzija got his first win on the mound in almost a year.

After an abysmal series against the Rays the Red Sox move on for some interleague play, and things didn’t go smoothly for them in Atlanta. Teams don’t often win when their starting pitcher doesn’t finish the fourth inning. Clay Buchholz last three innings, giving up six runs and eight walks before having enough. Luckily for him, a huge fifth inning from the Red Sox, scoring five runs highlighted by David Ortiz hitting a three run homer, made up for his abysmal day of pitching.

Ortiz had a very gratifying and redeeming performance after hitting a poor .118 with no RBIs through the team’s losing streak. He finished with one hit and one walk, but his sacrifice fly in the 7th helped break the tie and give the Red Sox a 7-6 lead before A.J. Pierzynski hit a single to center that helped Xander Bogaerts score and finish the running for the day. The Braves wasted all their offense in the 3rd and 4th innings, as two Justin Upton doubles helped them score four of the runs.

It’s been too long since we last shook hands following a win. In 10 games prior to today, there was one RBI combined from David and Dustin. That’s not to put it all on them, but they being in the middle of the lineup, their contributions are key to us. They came through for us in a big situation. 

The Cubs are an anomaly this season, with a positive run differential but one of the worst records in the majors behind some awful hitting, ranked in the bottom eight in most categories. Things went quite well for them against the Giants of all teams, hitting 13-of-38 at the plate, shelling Ysmeiro Pettit and reliever David Huff, who gave up a combined 13 hits and eight runs in less than seven innings together.

It was a good day for Samardzija, who picked up his first win of the season despite having a 1.68 ERA. He wasn’t exactly perfect, but he did strike out 10 batters while giving up six hits and three runs. He is 1-4 this season, notching up a win, not usually the most indicative of numbers, since August of the 2013 season, showing just how little run support he and other starters have been getting this season.

This time it wasn’t a problem. The Cubs were huge in the 5th up to the 7th inning, scoring 7 runs that began with a sacrifice fly from Darwin Barney, who picked up another RBI later on with a single. We had a double from Samardzija that helped score Nate Schierholtz, as five players on the Cubs finished with multiple hits and seven finished with at least one RBI, getting four extra base hits.

I smell great. I’d rather just drink the beer than them pour it on me. Guys played amazingly out there for me today, and I know they’ve been wanting it as much as I did.

Images: Source