as a middle-order batsman, he would have to face one of the most difficult spin environments without any prior experience. Going into that with 30 runs

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs are on a roll, and even their depth players are going deep to keep them streaking. Stitched Pelicans Jerseys .Matt Szczur hit two home runs and the Cubs won their 11th straight game, backing Jake Arrieta and battering Adam Wainwright to rout the St. Louis Cardinals 13-2 Friday.Willson Contreras launched a three-run shot to cap a five-run second inning, and Javier Baez and Jorge Soler also connected to make things easy for Arrieta (14-5).The Cubs winning streak is their longest since a 12-game run in 2001. They pulled 14 games ahead of scuffling St. Louis in the NL Central and improved the best record in the majors to 73-41.Manager Joe Maddon gave outfielders Dexter Fowler and Jason Heyward a day off following a 4-3, 11-inning win over the Cardinals on Thursday. From left to right, Contreras, Szczur and Soler started in the outfield instead and came through on a muggy afternoon.Maddon saluted all three, especially Szczur, who shuttled between the Cubs and the minors last season.He homers, runs the ball in the outfield, got things going, Maddon said. I knew hed be ready to play. He pretty much stirred it up for the entire group.The entire outfield hit four homers today. That not a bad thing, he said.Szczur, who recorded his first multihomer game, and Kris Bryant each had three hits.It was awesome to see my name in the lineup when I got to the ballpark today, Szczur said. Joe has tremendous faith in me and always expects me to produce and Ive been able to produce for him.The Cubs roughed up Wainwright (9-7) for seven runs and chased him after two innings, tying his shortest outing in 245 career starts.I was horrible, Wainwright said. My stuff was bad, my delivery was bad, everything was bad. The team deserves more than that.Arrieta pitched one-run ball into the sixth inning and gave up four hits overall.The story today was our offense was really good, Arrieta said. I think we know what were capable of.This 11 game winning streak is special, but we want to be playing our best baseball going into October.Stephen Piscotty and Jedd Gyorko homered for the Cardinals, who remain in a tight race for the second NL wild card despite dropping six of their last nine.Arrieta delivered a second straight solid start in August after going 0-3 with two no-decisions and a 4.88 ERA in July. The 2015 NL Cy Young winner pitched eight shutout innings at Oakland last Saturday.Wainwright hasnt won since July 16 and is 0-2 in his last five starts. During that span, hes allowed 21 runs in 25 2/3 innings.Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday had his broken right thumb examined by the teams hand specialist in Chicago and kidded with teammates in the clubhouse before the game. Hes out indefinitely after being hit by a pitch from the Cubs Mike Montgomery in the 10th inning Thursday night.Holliday will be re-examined next week. He was replaced in left field by Brandon Moss.The Cubs jumped on Wainwright early. Line-drive doubles by Bryant and Addison Russell drove in runs in the first to make it 2-0.Bryant hit another RBI double in the second and Contreras sent his seventh halfway up into the left-center bleachers to make it 7-0.Szczur and Soler hit solo homers in the sixth off Jerome Williams. Szczur and Baez added two-run shots in the seventh before Gyorko connected in the eighth.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals: Holliday will decide next week on treatments including surgery or letting the injury heal on its own, according to GM John Mozeliak. Neither Mozeliak or manager Mike Matheny could offer a specific timetable for the sluggers return.Cubs: RHP Trevor Cahill arrived at the Cubs clubhouse on Friday, but has not been activated from the DL after making six starts at Triple-A Iowa in a rehab stint (right knee tendinitis).UP NEXTLuke Weaver, a 22-year-old righty and one of the Cardinals top pitching prospects, will make his major league debut on Saturday against Kyle Hendricks (11-7, 2.17), who is 7-1 with a 1.06 ERA in his last 10 outings. Weaver took Hollidays roster spot and was with the Cardinals on Friday following his recall from Triple-A Memphis, where he made his first start last Monday and threw six strong innings. Previously Weaver was at Double-A Springfield of the Texas League. P. J. Brown Jersey . At a Manhattan federal court hearing, attorney Jordan Siev said his law office has gotten more evidence nearly every day to support its lawsuit accusing MLB and Selig of going on a "witch hunt" to ruin Rodriguezs reputation and career. He said the defendants went "way over the line. Josh Hart Jersey . -- Stanford squashed Oregons national championship hopes again, schooling the Ducks in power football. https://www.cheappelicans.com/475u-omer-...y-pelicans.html . PAUL, Minn. New Zealanders 324 for 7 dec (Latham 55, Williamson 50) and 235 (Ronchi 107) drew with Mumbai 464 for 8 dec (Yadav 103, Pawar 100, Lad 100)ScorecardIn the second innings of their warm-up match against Mumbai, Luke Ronchi and Martin Guptill combined to give the New Zealand team management a selection headache sooner than they would have anticipated. While Guptill followed his first-innings failure with a duck, Ronchi scored a blistering century on a last-day pitch that had begun to misbehave.It would be a dramatic move if a batsman who has opened only three times in first-class cricket replaced an opener in whom New Zealand have invested, but if there ever was a time and a place to do so, this might be it. Guptill averages 29.59 in Tests, which drops to 20.68 in Asia. He may be sensational in limited-overs cricket, but Tests and spin have not been his best friends. Concurrently, there is no better place than Asia for a non-opener to think about converting. It is often the best time to bat, before the ball begins to turn, reverse swing or gets too soft to travel.Ronchi got his crack at a top-order spot in the second innings, much like his previous three forays playing for Western Australia before he moved to New Zealand. Mumbai declared immediately after Siddhesh Lads century - the third of their innings. Then, out walked Ronchi alongside Guptill, the only specialist batsman who did not get a long hit in the first innings. With it being the third day of the game, the flat pitch had dried out and was offering turn and variable bounce, enough for Mumbai to open with the left-arm spin of Vishal Dabholkar.But Guptill cant blame the pitch for his dismissal. In Dabholkars first over, the batsman edged a half-volley, seemingly playing inside the line of the ball and giving the slip fielder an easy catch. Ronchi looked in much better control, and displayed more scoring options against spin and the slow nature of the pitch. He swept with authority, drove the quicks with power, found gaps repeatedly and was difficult to pin down at one end for the pressure to build.My game plan is to get off strike, Ronchi said after the match. If the field is in, I go over the top. [A] couple over the top, then a few gaps, and get off strike. Thats the way I go about it. If it works, fantastic. Doesnt work all the time, but the best way to bat sometimes is to be at the other end. If you can get yourself off strike, it is a good thing.Even if New Zealand were to stay conservative and dont open with Ronchi, he might be quite useful in the middle order. Almost all of his 107 runs came in the ccompany of bowlers. Jamal Mashburn Jersey. The New Zealanders used the final day of the game to give chances to those who didnt get them in the first innings. Guptill and Henry Nicholls were the only specialist batsmen repeated before they had no choice but to send others in. Ronchi put on 23, 64 and 47 runs with Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell and Trent Boult respectively. Batting with the tail could prove crucial on raging turners; Ravindra Jadeja frequently gave India the match-tilting runs from around 120 for 6 in the series against South Africa.Asked if he might have staked a claim for the opening position, Ronchi said: Maybe, but its just the position I was given in the second innings - to go out and open. [I] just wanted to sort of have a hit and do as best as I possibly could. If it comes up I certainly wont say no, but you never know what Hess [Mike Hesson] and Kane [Williamson] are thinking. So I will just go about my business and do the best I can for my team whenever given the chance, I guess.I have no idea [what role they have in mind for me]. Its up to them. Whatever they say, I will try to do my best. If given a chance, that is. If I am not playing, I am not playing. If I am playing and batting at 11, I am more than happy. Whatever role they ask me to perform, I certainly wont say no.If New Zealand do want Ronchi in, Nicholls may in danger of going out. He scored 1 in the second innings, but was undone by a ball that jumped out of the rough. If Nicholls does play the first Test in Kanpur, as a middle-order batsman, he would have to face one of the most difficult spin environments without any prior experience. Going into that with 30 runs from two innings would not make him feel good.This is when just one warm-up match on such a tough tour becomes unfair. A batsman needs time out in the middle to develop the methods and confidence to play spin. As another example, Santner jumped out of the crease to try to get to the pitch of a ball, and was stumped off Lad. He bats in the lower order for New Zealand and his runs could be very crucial. If selected for the Test, and having failed against a part-timer in a practice match, will he have the confidence to run at R Ashwin or Jadeja?The odd misbehaving delivery aside, New Zealand batted relatively comfortably through the rest of the day. They were bowled out for 235 in the fourth of the mandatory 15 overs in the last hour of play, but Mumbai did not take up the chase of 96 in nine overs. ' ' '