Clan-Members » carded a flawless 68 to take over at the

PITTSBURGH -- The Chicago Cubs arent going to panic. Not over their suddenly struggling starting staff, and not over their dwindling division lead, either.Josh Bells grand slam in his second major-league at bat was one of four homers by the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 12-6 win over Chicago on Saturday night.The Pirates have won nine of 10 over a stretch coinciding with the Cubs losing nine of 10, meaning Chicagos lead in the National League Central is down to 6 1/2 games.I feel like were fortunate to be (up 6 1/2 games) right now, actually, manager Joe Maddon said. I dont believe its a negative; I think its a positive.Jordy Mercer followed Bells slam with a home run of his own off of Adam Warren (3-2), and Andrew McCutchen and Sean Rodriguez homered earlier off Jon Lester. The National League pitcher of the month for June, Lester has allowed 13 runs in 4 1/3 innings in July, including five in three innings Saturday.Terrible. Unacceptable. Letdown, Lester said, describing his outing. Offense gives me two runs early and then gives me runs again -- and then I give it right back. Obviously a letdown, not only for myself but for the team.Ben Zobrist had a two-run homer and Anthony Rizzo had four hits for the Cubs, whose division lead is as small as its been since May.The biggest reason why? Starting pitchers that have a majors-best ERA but have allowed 41 earned runs in 41 innings during July.It seemed like early on we couldnt do anything wrong, Lester said. And Ill be the first one to tell you that what we were doing early on was pretty impressive. But just like with how we were playing overall and the pace we were on to win, what was it, 120 games or whatever, we all knew that that was not realistic.But at the same time, weve got to be better as a staff, weve got to be better as a whole and that starts with me tonight.Bell slugged a fifth-inning Warren pitch over the seats perched above the 21-foot wall in right for his second pinch-hit in two games since being recalled from Triple-A on Friday.What a fantastic sequence, said the Pirates Clint Hurdle, who has more than 1,000 managerial wins. I got goose bumps; Ive got them probably a dozen times since Ive been a coach or a manager.Chills went down my spine. ... Seemed like the stadium was pretty excited, too.Chad Kuhl lasted only 2 1/3 innings in his third major-league start, surrendering Zobrists 13th home run among seven hits allowed. But Pittsburghs bullpen was much better as Arquimedes Caminero (1-2) struck out three in 1 2/3 innings and Jared Hughes earned his third major-league save by pitching three scoreless innings.At least one run was scored during eight of the first 11 half-innings played on a night in which the city of Pittsburgh celebrated its bicentennial. A 25-minute fireworks display set off just a few hundred yards away at the citys Point State Park provided a soundtrack of regular rumbling booms throughout the fifth inning in which Bell and Mercer thrilled the Pirates third sellout crowd of the season even more.ALL-STAR COMINGS AND GOINGSCubs OF Dexter Fowler backed out of playing in Tuesdays All-Star game as a precaution as he recovers from a strained right hamstring that has him on the disabled list.Pirates OF Starling Marte was announced as one of the NL roster replacements along with the Reds Jay Bruce for Fowler and the Mets Yoenis Cespedes.ROSTER MOVEThe Cubs recalled INF Munenori Kawasaki from Triple-A and Saturdayand optioned INF Jeimer Candelario to Iowa. Maddon said the move was made to give the team a more experienced bat off the bench.TRAINERS ROOMCubs: Maddon said Fowler did not experience a setback in a minor-league rehab appearance Friday. He also said he would have had no problem if Fowler had made his return from the disabled list in the All-Star game and not for the Cubs -- as long as he was well enough to play, and then we got him on Friday.UP NEXTCubs: Sunday starter RHP John Lackey has gone 0-2 with a 7.56 ERA in his past three starts after going 7-3 with a 2.78 ERA in his first 14 startsPirates: LHP Jonathon Niese has lost his past two home starts, allowing 13 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings during them. Nike Air Max Günstig . Kuznetsov, who was selected by the Capitals in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been playing for his hometown team Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL. Nike Air Max 90 Kaufen .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team. https://www.schuheshopschweiz.ch/billige-schuhe-schweiz-kaufen-gunstig-bestellen-d86.html . Its the second straight game Bell has scored in extra time for Kelowna, which beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-5 on Friday, and he now has four game-winning goals on the season. Nike Air Max Großhandel . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. Air Max Bestellen Auf Rechnung . PETERSBURG, Fla. Rory McIlroy was delighted with his resilience after recovering from a nightmare start to remain firmly in contention for a second win of the season in the 100th edition of the Open de France.World No. 4 McIlroy began the third round in a five-way tie for the lead but found himself eight shots adrift in the space of eight holes after a double bogey on the first, three bogeys and a solitary birdie.However, after covering the front nine at Le Golf National in 40, the four-time major winner needed 10 shots fewer to complete the back nine thanks to five birdies which left him tied for second on six under par with Koreas Wang Jeunghun, two shots behind leader Thongchai Jaidee.I just could not get anything going on the front nine and with the way Im feeling with my game, if its good its very good but if its bad its hard to get out of it, said McIlroy, who revealed after his opening 71 he had whittled 17 swing thoughts down to four or five as he continued to work on eradicating some bad habits which had crept into his game.It shows the fragile state of my game at the moment but to come back the way I did was really pleasing. It was more resilience than anything. Ive hit enough good shots this week to know its possible and I just needed to find a spark and get something going.McIlroy had enjoyed a stroke of luck when his wayward opening tee shot stopped inches short of the lake to the left of the fairway, although from an awkward stance on the edge of the hazard he could only pitch out short of the green.From there the 27-year-old almost pulled his approach into the water and then duffed a chip from the fringe to run up a double-bogey six, which he soon followed with a bogey on the third after driving into another hazard.A birdie on the fourth repaired some of the damage, but bogeys on the seventh and eighth dropped him eight shots behind Wang, who had birdied four of the first seven holes in pursuit of a third European Tour title oof the season.ddddddddddddI knew if I could hit a few fairways and greens the last few holes were not playing quite as difficult as usual due to the wind and the birdie on 11 was big, added McIlroy, who also picked up a shot on the 13th before a hat-trick of birdies from the 15th.I wanted to hole that birdie putt on the last to get into the final group, but any time you can shoot five under on the back nine here is a great finish and Ill be in the group ahead and will try to give them something to shoot at.Jaidee, who was 10th here last year and second in 2014, carded a flawless 68 to take over at the top of the leaderboard as Wang, who won back-to-back events in Morocco and Mauritius earlier this season, dropped three shots in four holes.Defending champion Bernd Wiesberger recovered from bogeys on the first two holes to shoot 70 and end the day three shots off the pace, with Martin Kaymer, Alex Noren, Joost Luiten, Brandon Stone and Andy Sullivan - who holed out from 187 yards for an eagle on the 18th - all two shots further back.Lee Westwood was another stroke behind after a 67 which was initially reported as a 73, the former world No. 1 being mistakenly credited with playing partner Thomas Bjorns triple bogey on the 15th and double bogey on the 17th.I wondered why the TV cameras hadnt come rushing out when I was four under for the day, joked Westwood, who looked set to miss the halfway cut midway through his second round but carded a hat-trick of birdies on his back nine and fired six more on Saturday to lift himself into contention.On my 10th hole yesterday I holed from about 10 feet to not go six over par. You can change it pretty quickly by hitting some good shots and playing well around here. I dont think any lead is comfortable around this golf course. Theres danger and trouble everywhere. ' ' '