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Erik Johnson is getting the first chance to fill an open rotation spot for the Chicago White Sox. The former highly touted prospect makes his season debut in Thursday night's decisive finale against the visiting Boston Red Sox. In the aftermath of veteran John Danks' release this week, Chicago (19-9) has to fill the fifth spot in an otherwise stellar starting rotation that features Jose Quintana, Chris Sale and Mat Latos - all with ERA's under 2.00. Continue to Article

May 05, 2016 12:51:am EST

Erik Johnson is getting the first chance to fill an open rotation spot for the Chicago White Sox. The former highly touted prospect makes his season debut in Thursday night's decisive finale against the visiting Boston Red Sox. In the aftermath of veteran John Danks' release this week, Chicago (19-9) has to fill the fifth spot in an otherwise stellar starting rotation that features Jose Quintana, Chris Sale and Mat Latos - all with ERA's under 2.00. Continue to Article

May 05, 2016 12:51:am EST

Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we'll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.   Everyone knew the Chicago Cubs were going to be very good this season. That's why way more pundits than usual were in agreement when predicting a World Series champion, with 44-percent actually picking the Cubs  to win it all. That's also why Las Vegas continues making the Cubs the odds on favorite to end their historic championship drought. As we've learned over the years, sometimes expectations don't match results. But in the case of the Cubs, the results are somehow surpassing the expectations. On Wednesday, they became the first team in MLB to reach 20 wins when they defeated the Pirates 6-2 . The victory also completed a three-game sweep at PNC Park and ran their division to lead to a league-best six games [ Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now ] The Cubs are not fooling around. Even with slugger Kyle Schwaber lost for the season. Even with Jason Heyward banged up and off to a slow start. Even with 16 of their first 26 games away from Wrigley Field, they are dominating everybody. The Cubs have already recorded 13 wins by five or more runs after recording 16 such wins all of last season. — Cubs Gameday (@CHCGameday) May 4, 2016 On Wednesday, they only won by four runs. But it was never in doubt with Jon Lester refusing to fold and Chicago's offense making Pittsburgh pay for every mistake. Three of the Cubs six runs were unearned, but they all counted. That's just what the Cubs do. They wear teams out and they make teams play near perfect baseball just to have a chance. That puts a lot of pressure on the opposition, and more times than not their opponents have crumbled.   It's scary to think how good the Cubs, and it's scary to think how could they can be if all of their players click at once.  TOP PERFORMERS   Corey Kluber: Cleveland's ace was rock solid on Wednesday, going the distance in the Indians 4-0 victory against the Tigers . Kluber battled some traffic, allowing five hits and walking two. But he his pitches when he needed to, including racking up seven strikeouts. The complete game was Kluber's eighth, all coming since 2014. The shutout was his second.  Steven Matz: Sometimes Matz can be the forgotten man in discussions about New York's dominant rotation. He made himself the center of the conversation on Wednesday, pitching 7 2/3 scoreless innings in the Mets 8-0 win over the Braves . Matz allowed just two hits while striking out eight and lowering his ERA to 2.83. Lucas Duda also homered twice as the Mets won for the 10th time in 12 games. [Elsewhere: Fan takes opportunistic selfie with player who fell into stands ] Daniel Murphy: After a forgettable World Series against Kansas City last fall, Daniel Murphy did his best to put it behind him in this series against the Royals. After homering in Tuesday's loss, Murphy paced a Nationals 13-2 victory on Wednesday with four hits, four runs scored and three RBIs. Murphy's big hits included his fourth home run of the season and his 10th double, which knocked in two.  The Astros: It was team effort in their 16-4 dismantling of the Twins . Six different players drove in at least two runs. That includes Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Jason Castros, all of whom homered as well. In total, Houston collected 14 hits and seven walks en route to a much-needed and much-enjoyed victory.  MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT   The Mariners hit three home runs in Wednesday's 9-8 win against the A's . The most impressive, by far, was this moonshot of a two-run blast from Nelson Cruz. That ball landed in the rarely reached center field seats in Oakland. More importantly, the runs were needed on an afternoon where Felix Hernandez struggled, allowing eight runs (four earned) in four innings.   THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD Reds 7, Giants 4 : The rough start for San Francisco's Jake Peavy continued here. The 34-year-old right-hander allowed seven earned runs in six innings, raising his ERA to 9.00 through six starts. Angels 7, Brewers 3 : Mike Trout homered, tripled and knocked in two as the Angels avoided a sweep in Milwaukee.  Rockies 2, Padres 0 : With Jorge De La Rosa on the DL, Tyler Chatwood is emerging as Colorado's ace. He tossed eight scorless innings to earn his fourth win and lower his ERA to 2.15.  Yankees 7, Orioles 0 : The Yankees snapped a six-game losing streak thanks to a strong effort from CC Sabathia. The veteran left-handed tossed seven scoreless innings. Blue Jays 4, Rangers 3 : Make that two straight walkoff wins for the Jays. This time Russell Martin came through with bases-loaded single in the ninth.  Marlins 4, Diamondbacks 3 : In a game highlighted by a selfie , Miami gets a big win. Giancarlo Stanton clubbed a two-run homer. Rays 8, Dodgers 5 : After being buried by Dodgers homers on Tuesday, the Ray battled back with four of their own in Wednesday's win.  Red Sox 5, White Sox 2 : 'Big Papi' David Ortiz homered and drove in three as Boston evened the three-game series.  Cardinals 5, Phillies 4 : St. Louis overcame a four-fun deficit with a three-run fifth inning and a two-run ninth inning. Matt Holliday played hero, lacing a walk-off single.  More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: - - - - - - - Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813 Continue to Article

May 05, 2016 12:31:am EST