The Cubs continued their bid to host the National League Wild Card Game presented by Budweiser by posting a soggy 5-3 win Thursday afternoon over the Reds, who lost their 12th in a row.
Austin Jackson smacked a three-run home run and Anthony Rizzo added an RBI double to back Jason Hammel, who scattered five hits over five innings for the win in his final regular-season start. Cubs manager Joe Maddon planned on shortening Hammel’s outing, but he didn’t tell the right-hander until after the fifth.
“I was surprised,” Hammel said. “I think the only way I wouldn’t make a stink about it was that I felt so good.”
With the Pirates idle Thursday, the Cubs picked up a half game in the race for home-field advantage in the Oct. 7 game, and they now are two games back. The Pirates’ magic number to play the game at PNC Park is two. The Cubs hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Pirates, but any combination of Pirates wins or Cubs losses adding up to two would guarantee the Pirates finish a game ahead of the Cubs and earn the right to host the NL Wild Card Game. If they finish with identical W-L records, the Cubs would host the game by virtue of their going 11-8 against the Pirates this season.
“We’re good and we know it,” Hammel said. “It was nice to see it come together so quickly. It was something I saw the last couple weeks I was here last year before I got traded. Obviously, that’s one of the reasons I came back was because I thought we had a good chance to win.”
John Lamb took the loss, which extended the Reds’ skid to 12, the longest streak since they dropped a dozen, Sept. 10-22, 1993. Lamb allowed five earned runs and five hits over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out six and had three walks, including two just before Jackson’s homer.
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