Jun 30, 2015 5 min read

Kyle Hendricks outpitched Jonathon Niese in a matchup of feeble offenses, and Matt Szczur provided the one big hit Tuesday night as the Chicago Cubs snapped a five-game skid with a 1-0 victory over the New York Mets.

Hendricks (3-4) pitched three-hit ball for six innings and combined with three relievers to bail out the Cubs, who scored just six runs during their losing streak.

Szczur had an RBI double off Niese (3-8) in the sixth, the team’s only hit in five chances with runners in scoring position. It was enough to end a four-game winning streak for the Mets, who lost 1-0 for the fourth time in two months.

New York fell to 0-5 against the Cubs this year, including four defeats by one run. Chicago completed a four-game sweep of the Mets at Wrigley Field in May.

Chicago was 4-for-37 with runners in scoring position while dropping two to the Dodgers and getting swept by NL Central-rival St. Louis recently. Hoping to make the slump disappear, manager Joe Maddon pulled out one of his tension-cutting tricks: He hired a magician to entertain the team before the game.

Maddon also brought organization hitting consultant Manny Ramirez to New York.

But the Cubs managed only four hits against the Mets, whose pitchers have yielded just five runs in the last 51 innings (0.88 ERA).

Hendricks was winless in his last three starts and hadn’t gotten an out beyond the fifth since going six innings June 2 against Miami. The team that entered Tuesday 27th in the majors in runs was a good tonic for his troubles.

The right-hander walked one and struck out six, not allowing a runner past second base. In two career starts against the Mets, he’s allowed one run and six hits over 13 innings.

Hector Rondon and Pedro Strop each pitched a hitless inning before Jason Motte finished the three-hitter for his third save. The game took only 2 hours, 22 minutes.

Miami 5, San Francisco 3: Major league batting leader Dee Gordon hit the first inside-the-park homer in the four-year history of Marlins Park, and the three-run shot helped Miami beat the San Francisco Giants 5-3 Tuesday night.

Miami’s Justin Bour also homered, giving a welcome jolt of power to a team without injured slugger Giancarlo Stanton.

Buster Posey hit his 12th homer for the Giants. He has 18 RBIs in his past 10 games.

Mat Latos (3-5) gave up three runs, two earned, in six innings. Four relievers completed a six-hitter.

Carter Capps, throwing at up to 99 mph, struck out the side in the eighth. He has 38 strikeouts in 20 2-3 innings to go with an ERA of 0.87.

Washington 6, Atlanta 1: Jordan Zimmermann took a shutout into the eighth inning and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 6-1 on Tuesday night to continue their season-long dominance of the division rivalry.

The NL East-leading Nationals have won nine straight games in the season series with the Braves, including a three-game sweep at Washington last week.

Zimmermann (6-5) ended a streak of three losses since his last win on June 2. He earned a no-decision despite throwing eight scoreless innings against Atlanta on Wednesday. He continued that dominance in his second straight start against the Braves, allowing six hits with no walks and six strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.

Clint Robinson hit a two-run homer to cap Washington’s four-run first inning off Shelby Miller (5-4).

Mackanin to remain Phillies’ manager: The Philadelphia Phillies say Pete Mackanin will stay as their manager for the rest of the season.

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. made the announcement Tuesday.

Mackanin took over on an interim basis last Friday after manager Ryne Sandberg resigned.

“It’s a good feeling,” Mackanin said. “I’m happy that I know what my fate is until the end of the season.”

At 27-51, the Phillies had the worst record in the majors going into Tuesday night’s home game against Milwaukee. His goal is to try to develop Philadelphia’s young players.

American League

Cleveland 6, Tampa Bay 2: Danny Salazar pitched two-hit ball for 7 2/3 innings and the Cleveland Indians backed him with three home runs to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-2 Tuesday night.

Jason Kipnis, Giovanny Urshela and David Murphy homered for the Indians, driving in all six runs.

Salazar (7-3) retired the first 15 batters, the third time in the last six games that’s happened to the Rays. Indians rookie Cody Anderson took a perfect game into the seventh Monday night and Toronto’s Marco Estrada was perfect through the seventh last Wednesday.

Salazar walked Asdrubal Cabrera to open the sixth. After a double play, Curt Casali broke up the no-hit bid with a double.

Erasmo Ramirez (6-3) lost for the first time in six starts.

Texas 8, Baltimore 6: Mitch Moreland hit two home runs in a second straight game, and the Texas Rangers celebrated the return of Josh Hamilton by defeating the Baltimore Orioles 8-6 on Tuesday night.

Shin-Soo Choo and Robinson Chirinos also went deep for the Rangers, who have hit eight home runs in the first two games of the series.

Moreland homered with a man on in the second and eighth innings. It’s the eighth time in club history that a player has hit multiple home runs in consecutive games.

He leads Texas with 14 home runs and ranks second with 43 RBIs.

Hamilton hit two singles and made a nice running catch of a sinking liner to left field in his eighth game of the season. The free-swinging slugger was sidelined since May 31 with a strained left hamstring.