WASHINGTON - Jason Hammel picked up another victory for the Chicago Cubs, and that part of his Friday afternoon was very satisfying. It was the length of his outing that frustrated the right-hander. Hammel pitched six-plus innings and Justin Ruggiano homered for the second straight game, leading the Cubs to a 7-2 victory over the Washington Nationals. Chicago was leading 4-1 when Hammel was pulled after Anthony Rendon hit his 92nd pitch for a leadoff double. "I would have liked to have stayed out there in the seventh," Hammel said. "I have no idea why I came out of the game. I honestly believe you learn how to pitch when you get to 100 pitches. If youre not allowed to reach that I think thats hurting you more than helping." Hammel has gone over 100 pitches in eight of his 17 starts, including his previous two outings. "All I can say is its frustrating, especially when you feel good," he said. "Quite honestly theres no reason for me to go back out there if Im just going to give up the runner and then (get) pulled." Manager Rick Renteria said of the move: "Go ahead and make a change there and not let him get into a situation." Neil Ramirez then struck out Ian Desmond before Wilson Ramos singled home Rendon to make it 4-2. Ramirez retired the next two batters to limit the damage. The Cubs broke it open in the ninth when Ruggiano singled in Darwin Barney and Starlin Castro added a two-run single. Ruggiano connected for a solo shot against Tanner Roark (7-6) in the third inning. He has seven RBIs in his last two games and is batting .444 (12 for 27) in his last seven games overall. "Hitters go through this every now and then," he said. "You get hot, seeing the ball well. Ive been doing some things mechanically to stay on top of what I want to do at the plate. Its good though, I dont want to lose it." Chris Coghlan had two hits and scored three times as the Cubs collected 14 hits in their fourth consecutive victory. Hammel was charged with two runs in his second consecutive victory against Washington. The 6-foot-6 right-hander allowed two runs in 6 1-3 innings in a 7-2 victory over Roark and the Nationals on June 27 in his previous start. Hammel, who also had an RBI single in his latest victory, improved to 8-0 with a 3.11 ERA in 10 career starts against Washington. The first two Nationals reached in the fifth, but Hammel recovered from a 3-0 count to fan Roark attempting to bunt. "That was huge," he said. "I couldnt find the strike zone. I was overthrowing." Denard Span then grounded into a fielders choice and Bryce Harper struck out. Jayson Werth homered in his second straight game and added a double for the Nationals, who had won five in a row. Roark was charged with four runs and nine hits in seven innings in his second straight loss after a personal four-game winning streak. "They did what they did last time — base-hit me," he said. "Got beat." NOTES: Werth is 6 for 10 with two homers, three doubles and six RBIs in his last three games. ... Chicagos Nate Schierholtz, running from first on a pitch in the fourth, took a step past second base on John Bakers fly out to centre. When he didnt retouch second on his way back to first, the Nationals appealed and Schierholtz was called out. . The last time starters with identical records and ERAs with at least 15 starts squared off was August 15, 1974, when Jim Kaat of the White Sox opposed Baltimores Mike Cuellar. Both pitchers then were 13-9 with a 3.54 ERA. Robert Hagg Jersey . Halak did not get the start in the Washington Capitals Tuesday night game against the St. Scott Laughton Jersey .com) - Bradley Beals 22 points and seven rebounds helped the Washington Wizards erase a halftime deficit and top the Utah Jazz, 93-84, on Sunday. http://www.cheapflyersjerseys.com/. Still, Encarnacion felt a sense of relief. He felt a pop just before crumpling to the ground after running out a groundball in the first inning of Saturdays game. It could have been worse. “Its going to take maybe two weeks,” said Encarnacion. “It depends how Im going to be and how Im going to be day after day, feeling better or not. Dale Weise Jersey . According to TSNs Farhan Lalji, Richardson is heading to Toronto for a physical and is expected to sign with the Argonauts. Ron Hextall Jersey . He, the 25-year-old Toronto backup net-minder and Manitoba native, would be making just his fourth start in the past 16 games against the Jets the following evening. It was the word of opportunity for Reimer, who has fallen into the role of backup, outmatched in recent weeks by Jonathan Bernier, his Quebec counterpart.WACO, Texas -- Kansas coach Bill Self knows most people look at how Andrew Wiggins plays as a barometer for what to expect from the eighth-ranked Jayhawks. Dont make the mistake of overlooking the other players around the Big 12s top-scoring freshman. Naadir Tharpe scored 22 points, nine in a go-ahead run before halftime, and the Big 12-leading Jayhawks rebounded from their first league loss with a 69-52 victory at Baylor on Tuesday night. "Weve just got to be a team that its going to be a different guy most every night," Self said. "And (Tharpe) stepped up when we needed him to step up." Early on, there were three ties and nine lead changes. Tharpes short jumper with 3 1/2 minutes left in the half broke a 25-all tie and put the Jayhawks (17-5, 8-1 Big 12) ahead to stay. The tiebreaking shot was Tharpes third basket in a 14-3 spurt over the final 5 minutes of the first half, and he added a 3-pointer with a minute left. He then made another 3 on Kansas opening possession after halftime. Wiggins, a native of Vaughan, Ont., finished 4-of-13 shooting and didnt make his first basket until a half-court shot to beat the buzzer going into halftime for a 35-27 lead. "Well, we ran that play for him at the end of the first half to get him going," Self joked of Wiggins, who finished two points off his season average. "It was big. It gave a great momentum push going into halftime," said Perry Ellis, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds. "It was great that he knocked that down. It got him going." Cory Jefferson had 14 points to lead Baylor (14-8, 2-7), which lost its fourth consecutive game at the Ferrell Center after a 13-game home winning streak. Its the longest home drought since dropping six straight in 2005. The Bears, coming off a win at then-No. 8 Oklahoma State that snapped their overall five-game losing streak, was trying to set up for a final shot before halftime when Kenny Chery threw an errant pass that Wiggins intercepted. "Round 1 is over in the league. We have to do betteer in Round 2," Baylor coach Scott Drew said.dddddddddddd "The good thing is I believe we can win every game, but with the Big 12 being like it is we can lose every game. We have to make sure we play well to have a chance to win." Baylor has never won consecutive games over Top 25 opponents. The Bears shot only 29 per cent from the field (16 of 55) -- Drew, looking for a positive, pointed out they did have assists on all but one of those made baskets. They were outrebounded 45-31. Kansas was coming off an 81-69 loss Saturday at surging Texas. "We just came out there without energy. I felt like even though Texas played that tremendous game out there, we kind of beat ourselves," said Tharpe, who sat the final 10 minutes of that game when had only three points on 1-of-4 shooting. "We didnt come out with any kind of energy, we had nothing. After they made a play, we had nothing coming back. So we knew coming into today in Waco, we had to come out with some fire right away. And thats what we did." In their regular season finale last March, the Jayhawks lost 81-58 at Baylor. They still had a share of their ninth consecutive Big 12 title, but that loss kept them from winning it outright. Baylor was within 49-44 midway through the second half and Wiggins had just shot and missed the rim. But the Bears missed three free throws on the same possession. Then, with Baylor students chanting "Air Ball!, Air Ball!", Wiggins swished a 3-pointer from the right wing. Wiggins scored again on the next possession to push the lead to 54-44, and had the next basket as well with a dunk with 7:49 left. Brady Heslip had 12 points on four 3-pointers, but didnt score again after his last gave Baylor a 22-21 lead with 6:34 left in the first half. "We were just playing him behind his numbers. We were running behind him," Tharpe said of second-half adjustments on Heslip. "We just knew that he got a lot of good looks off in the first half, and we couldnt let that happen again." ' ' '