miaowang123: The Kings are idle on Tuesday

miaowang123

PITTSBURGH -- Andrew McCutchen made a "minor" adjustment in the batters box a couple weeks ago hoping to give him a fraction of a second longer to see whats coming. Dan Feeney Jersey . Consider the experiment a success. McCutchen hit his eighth homer and drove in three runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night. "When I get the barrel to it, good things happen," McCutchen said. "Thats basically what Im doing." McCutchen drove a two-run shot to right field in the third inning then added an RBI-double in the fifth off Edwin Jackson (4-6) as the Pirates bounced back from two tough losses to Milwaukee over the weekend in which they left a combined 18 runners on base. There were no such problems while sending Jackson to his fourth loss in his last five decisions. "I got to do a better job of mixing up instead of getting beat with same pitch twice," Jackson said. "I let the guy whos the threat on the team beat me twice and you cant do that." Charlie Morton (3-7) allowed one run over seven innings to win for the third time in his last four starts after beginning the season 0-6. Ike avis hit his fifth homer of the season while Starling Marte broke out of a lengthy slump with three hits. Starlin Castro went 3 for 4 with his eighth home run and two RBIs for the Cubs, who fell to 10-22 on the road, the worst mark in all of baseball. "We try to figure out what it is but we havent figured it out yet," Castro said. "You go back and see those games we play good at home and we should be playing that way on the road but were not." It wasnt exactly the best way to start a 10-game road swing for Chicago, which was coming off a successful 5-1 homestand that included the teams longest winning streak in more than a year. Any momentum generated at Wrigley Field vanished on a night Morton avoided the control problems that have plagued him much of the season. The right-hander came in with a major-league high 13 hit batters while averaging nearly 2.5 walks per start. Maybe it was the extra day of rest he asked for after feeling tired following a win over San Diego last week, but Mortons wildness vanished for seven innings at least. He didnt walk a batter, struck out a season-high seven and needed just 82 pitches to get 21 outs. "I dont think it was great control but I got some quick outs, that helps," Morton said. "Not so many deep counts. Not as erratic, my misses were more in the zone and I got away with them." The Cubs needed a grounder deflecting off the glove of shortstop Jordy Mercer to extend the sixth inning before finally scoring on Castros long double to right. All the run did was draw Chicago within 4-1, with most of the damage done by the reigning NL MVP. Marte, who began the night 0 for his last 23, doubled home Pedro Alvarez to give the Pirates the lead in the first. McCutchen pushed it to 3-0 in the third when he patiently waited as Jackson worked him away before reaching out and sending a pitch into the first row of seats in right for his fourth homer this month. McCutchen nearly did it again two innings later, lacing a double off the wall in right to score Travis Snider and give Morton all the cushion he would need. Bothered by some bad luck early in the season, Morton lowered his ERA to 3.14. NOTES: Pittsburgh 2B Neil Walker was scratched about an hour before the first pitch with abdominal pain and underwent an emergency appendectomy. The team placed Walker on the DL after the game and called up highly touted prospect OF Gregory Polanco from Triple-A Indianapolis. Polanco hit .347 with seven home runs in the minors this spring. ... Pirates RHP Gerrit Cole threw 25 soft-toss pitches on flat ground before the game. Cole, who leads the Pirates with six victories, was placed on the DL on Sunday with what the team is calling right shoulder fatigue. ... Chicago RF Ryan Sweeney made a rehab start for Class A Kane County on Monday night. Sweeney went on the DL May 3 with a right hamstring strain. ... The series continues Tuesday. Travis Wood (5-5, 5.04 ERA) starts for the Cubs against Francisco Liriano (1-6, 4.54). Wood is 2-4 with an 8.04 ERA on the road this season. Mike Pouncey Jersey .com) - Graeme McDowell opened up with a first- round, 5-under 67 on Thursday and he holds a 2-shot lead at the WGC - HSBC Champions. Jatavis Brown Jersey .C. - Alberta prop Andrew Tiedemann will captain Canada against Uruguay on Friday, the opening day of competition at the IRB Americas Rugby Championship.(SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Islanders will try to rebound from a surprising loss when they continue a road trip with Tuesdays battle against the Vancouver Canucks. The Islanders, who are tied with Pittsburgh for the Metropolitan Division lead, carried a three-game winning streak into Sundays game against the NHLs basement dwellers, the Edmonton Oilers. New York would lose the contest by a 5-2 score, as the Oilers dealt the Isles only their second regulation defeat of the last 10 games (7-2-1). Islanders head coach Jack Capuano felt his team made things too easy for Edmonton on Sunday. We gave them three gifts and an empty-netter, said Capuano. We were physical, we did a lot of good things, but at the end of the day its about execution and there are some guys that need to look in the mirror. Johnny Boychuk picked up a goal and assisted on the other for the Islanders, who could have vaulted over idle Pittsburgh back into sole possession of first place in the Metro with a single point. New York has the same opportunity tonight, as the Penguins are idle again tonight before hosting Boston on Wednesday. Jaroslav Halak surrendered four goals on 22 shots in Sundays loss. Halak expects to start tonight against Vancouver. He is 5-3-1 with a 2.22 goals against average in his career against the Canucks. Despite the loss to the Oilers, New York still owns a solid 12-8-1 record as the visiting team this season. Tonights test is the final tilt of the Canadian pportion of a six-game road trip, which will finish with games against New Jersey, Columbus and the New York Rangers. Caleb Sturgis Jersey. New York has won two of its last three games in Vancouver, including a 7-4 win at Rogers Arena when the clubs last met on March 10, 2014. That win also halted a three-game overall skid in the series for the Islanders. Vancouver has split the first two games of a five-game homestand and is 10-6-1 on home ice this season. The Canucks are 4-1-1 overall since suffering through a season-worst five-game losing streak from Dec. 6-17. The Canucks lost a 3-2 regulation decision to visiting Los Angeles on New Years Day, but rebounded with Saturdays 4-1 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings. Ryan Miller stopped 29 shots and Henrik Sedin scored a pair of empty- net goals in Vancouvers win over the Detroit. Radim Vrbata and Alexander Edler each lit the lamp, and Daniel Sedin had three assists for the Canucks. Vancouver went 2-for-4 on the power play and killed off all three of Detroits chances with the man advantage. We had a good night on the specialty teams. That was probably the difference, Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. Miller moved to 3-10-2 all-time against the Red Wings. Vancouvers No. 1 could get the call again tonight and he owns a 16-9-2 record and a 2.99 GAA in his career against the Isles. The Canucks enter tonight tied with Los Angeles for second place in the Pacific Division. The Kings are idle on Tuesday. Cheap Hockey Capitals Jerseys Cheap Hockey Penguins Jerseys Cheap Hockey Flyers Jerseys Cheap Hockey Rangers Jerseys Cheap Hockey Islanders Jerseys Cheap Hockey Devils Jerseys Cheap Hockey Blue Jackets Jerseys Cheap Hockey Hurricanes Jerseys Cheap Hockey Maple Leafs Jerseys Cheap Hockey Lightning Jerseys Cheap Hockey Senators Jerseys Cheap Hockey Canadiens Jerseys Cheap Hockey Panthers Jerseys Cheap Hockey Red Wings Jerseys Cheap Hockey Sabres Jerseys Cheap Hockey Bruins Jerseys ' ' '