in for Halton, but he struck out to end the inning. Ryan Swee

ST. LOUIS -- Lance Lynn has been among the best first-half pitchers in the majors since cracking the St. Louis Cardinals rotation in 2011, reaching double-figure win totals before the All-Star break all three seasons. The Los Angeles Dodgers saw a pitcher determined to finish strong, too. Lynn won his third straight start Friday night, leading the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory. "Im not worried about the rest of the season," Lynn said. "Im just worried about my next start -- whenever that may be." Lynn is 33-15 with a 3.54 ERA before the All-Star break and 12-9 with a 3.91 ERA after the break. Hes been among the pitchers getting the most run support, too. Manager Mike Matheny repeated his assertion that Lynn (11-6) is "one of the most underrated pitchers in the game." "Despite what anybody else thinks, hes got a lot of wins and theres a reason," Matheny said. "Its because hes got great stuff." Matt Holliday homered and doubled with three RBIs in support of Lynn. Kolten Wong had two hits and scored on both of Hollidays RBI hits for the Cardinals against the team they beat in the NLCS last fall. They have won six of eight and remained a game behind the Brewers for the NL Central lead. "Really, I just kept my approach simple and tried to hit the ball hard back through the middle of the field," Holliday said. "I dont get ahead of myself. Ive learned playing this long to take this thing day to day." A.J. Ellis had an RBI double for the Dodgers, battling the Giants for the NL West lead. They remained offensively challenged coming out of the All-Star break, totalling 10 runs the last six games. Hollidays seventh homer, estimated at 435 feet to straightaway centre, came off Dan Haren (8-7). Lynn gave up two runs on four hits in six-plus innings. He struck out nine and worked around four walks, which tied his season high. Lynn has 44 wins the last three seasons, one behind Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright for most in the league. He bounced back from season worsts of two innings and six earned runs at Los Angeles on June 28 before leaving with a blister. "I thought he used his breaking ball more. I dont think he used his curveball in L.A. hardly at all," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "It looked like it took us a while to get going." Haren piled up 99 pitches in 4 2-3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, and is among the National League leaders with 20 homers allowed. Hes totalled 8 2-3 innings his last two starts and has lost his last three outings overall. "I made a bad pitch to Holliday," Haren said. "I actually didnt make that many mistakes. It seemed like everything they hit in the air was falling, and there was nothing I could do." The Dodgers left the bases loaded in the third when Matt Kemp struck out. The Cardinals stranded three in the fourth when Lynn bounced out after an intentional walk to Tony Cruz. Consecutive doubles by Juan Uribe and Ellis leading off the seventh chased Lynn. Ellis scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to one. The Dodgers stranded two against Pat Neshek in the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal had two strikeouts in a perfect ninth for his 29th save in 33 chances. NOTES: The pairing for Saturday is Zack Greinke (11-5, 2.73), coming off his second All-Star nod, against Joe Kelly (1-1, 3.44), making his second start coming off the DL from a hamstring injury. Greinke has won his last four starts against the Cardinals and is 9-3 with a 2.93 ERA for his career against them. ... Mattingly didnt mind Kemp saying he was open to a trade if he didnt get regular playing time in a published report during the break. "The headline catches your eye and you read it and you go, Its not that big of a deal," Mattingly said. Mattingly also didnt mind that Kemp wanted to play centre field, saying "Thats fine, he can view himself however he wants. Im playing him in left." ... Holliday reached 1,000 career RBIs last month. ... The Cardinals have won their first home game after the All-Star break seven straight seasons. Adidas Superstar Rea .Y. -- Mike Zigomaniss goal at 5:53 of the third period stood up as the winner as the Rochester Americans hung on to defeat the visiting Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2 on Saturday in American Hockey League action. NMD Bape Sverige . So they rushed to re-sign the first baseman who general manager Ben Cherington described Friday as "a unique player." The World Series champions finalized a $32 million, two-year agreement Thursday with the slugging former catcher who turned into a surprisingly good defender. http://www.nmdsverige.com/consortium-adidas-skor.html . On Sunday, hell attempt to become the youngest driver to win a NASCAR Nationwide race on Iowas short track. The 20-year-old Blaney wont be the only kid pushing a podium finish. Adidas NMD R1 Billigt . So he and his Toronto FC teammates say they will have no problem getting up for their Amway Canadian Championship final against rival Montreal Impact, even if the result doesnt count toward Major League Soccer standings. Adidas NMD XR1 Sverige . The seventh-ranked Berdych wants to focus on the ATP Tour after helping the Czechs beat the Netherlands in the first round. Seeking their third straight Davis Cup title, the Czechs will rely again on veteran Radek Stepanek.MILWAUKEE -- After struggling in the minors during the first half of the season, Tyler Thornburgs turnaround since being called up to the majors by the Milwaukee Brewers has been remarkable. Sean Halton hit his first career grand slam and Thornburg allowed just two singles over six innings, leading the Brewers to a 7-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. Thornburg (3-1) struck out four and walked two as he reached six innings for the sixth straight start since being recalled from Triple A Nashville on June 29. He has allowed five earned runs in 36 innings as a starter and has also made 11 relief appearances for the Brewers, posting a 1.96 ERA. At Nashville, he was 0-9 with a 5.79 ERA in 15 starts. "He has been good in relief, hes been really good as a starter," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "Its hard to explain. I know its an excuse, but I heard he had the worst luck you could have at Triple-A, but I wasnt there. "Hes confident. He gets a little wild at times and then comes back and makes great pitches. He has three really good pitches: a really good fastball, a good curveball and a great change-up. He can mix in the two off-speed pitches, depending on which is going well that day, and when you can do that and you have a lot of life on your fastball, youll pitch like he did today." Jimmy Nelson pitched two innings and Michael Blazek got the last three outs to preserve the four-hit shutout. Thornburg put most of the blame for his ineffectiveness at Nashville on himself. "I was a little upset being in Triple-A," said Thornburg, who made three starts in eight appearances last season with the Brewers. "Honestly I was kicking myself a little bit too much. Doing things I wouldnt necessarily do. Up here I stuck with my three good pitches and I am really trying to improve those." Haltons homer capped a five-run first inning off Chris Rusin (2-5). Jean Segura walked with one out and advanced to second on Jonathan Lucroys single.dddddddddddd Aramis Ramirez singled in Segura. After Carlos Gomez flied out, Khris Davis walked to load the bases. Halton then drove a 3-2 pitch 370 feet over the right-field wall for his fourth home run. "It is just one of things," said Halton, who also hit a three-run game-ending homer Sunday to give the Brewers a 6-5 victory over the Reds. "In a couple months I will sit back and look (and say) that was a crazy week. It is unbelievable to get an opportunity to be in those situations let alone come through in them." Davis led off the fourth inning with his 10th home run to put the Brewers up 6-0. Milwaukee added a run in the fifth when reliever Alberto Cabrera hit Norichika Aoki, Ramirez walked and Gomez followed with an RBI double. Davis walked to load the bases again for Halton, but he struck out to end the inning. Ryan Sweeney was the only Cubs runner to reach second base with a double in the seventh off Nelson. The Cubs have lost seven of their last eight and are just 15-34 since July 29. "When I needed to make a pitch, I left it up and they hit it out of the yard," said Rusin. "Those are the games youve just got to learn from. Just keep the ball down is what I keep telling myself. But that first inning really hurt the team. Just took the life out of us. As a starting pitcher, you dont want to do that to a club." NOTES: Brewers SS Segura left the game after the first inning with what the team announced as a strained right hamstring. He is listed as day-to-day. "Its not bad but saying that, well see how many days its going to be," Roenicke said. "If he walks in here tomorrow and hardly feels anything, then we have a chance to get him back out there." ... The Brewers improved to 13-5 this season against the Cubs. Since 2011, they hold a 36-15 advantage. ' ' '