CHICAGO — With the Chicago Cubs just starting

a busy stretch during which they will play 23 games in 23 days http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-blake-snell-jersey , finding a way to remain fresh may seem tougher than normal.How well Chicago’s starting pitching holds up over the remainder of the regular season may play a major role in determining whether the Cubs can capture their third straight National League Central Division title.With Yu Darvish out for the season and Mike Montgomery sidelined with a shoulder injury, the last thing the Cubs needed was for their starting rotation to take another hit. But the injury bug continued to bite the Cubs on Thursday when Tyler Chatwood, who had been relegated to the bullpen after spending most of the season as a starter, was placed on the disabled list with hip tightness. The Cubs recalled right-hander Dillon Maples from Triple-A Iowa.Article continues below ...The starter shortfall also forced the Cubs to call up Alec Mills, who will make his first major league start on Friday at Wrigley Field against the Cincinnati Reds. Mills (0-0, 0.00 ERA) is 5-12 with a 4.84 ERA in 23 starts this season at Triple-A Iowa.Mills made an appearance for the Cubs earlier this season when he pitched two scoreless innings of relief and struck out two July 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals.While the Cubs’ pitching has stood up well during Chicago’s recent offensive struggles, manager Joe Maddon continued to keep newly acquired Daniel Murphy at the top of his lineup. First baseman Anthony Rizzo Rob Refsnyder Jersey , who had thrived in the lead-off spot, has settled back into his normal No. 3 spot and homered for a third straight game and drove in three runs as the Cubs knocked off the Reds 7-1 in Thursday night’s series opener behind a complete-game effort from Cole Hamels.The addition of Murphy, who went 2-for-5 and scored a run in Thursday’s win, could be big for the Cubs down the stretch. Murphy is a career .413 hitter in 109 at-bats at Wrigley Field, where he played his first game as a member of the Cubs on Wednesday. With shortstop Addison Russell sidelined with an injury, Murphy’s addition bolsters a lineup that general manager Jed Hoyer believes is built to win.“We’ve tried to augment that group as much as we can during the course of the season,” Hoyer told reporters http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-brad-miller-jersey , according to the Chicago Tribune. “But this group is very capable of winning. We need to start playing better, more consistent baseball.”The Reds will head into Friday’s game expecting to send Matt Harvey to the mound despite reports that the veteran right-hander had been claimed off waivers by an unknown team Wednesday. A team has 48 hours to either trade him or pull him off of waivers from the time he is chosen. The Reds’ official website said that would force team officials to decide what to do with Harvey before Friday’s matinee.Harvey is 6-5 with a 4.28 ERA in 17 starts with the Reds this season after he was acquired from the New York Mets. Harvey is 2-1 with a 4.05 ERA in six career starts against the Cubs, and is 1-0 with a 3.09 ERA in two starts against Chicago this season. Whether he makes another start against Chicago — at least as a member of the Reds — remains up in the air.“Obviously, if a trade is worked out, he won’t (pitch),” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman told reporters Thursday. “But we’re planning on having him start.” SAN FRANCISCO — The Atlanta Braves will seek more late-game magic when they face the free-falling San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night in the middle meeting of a three-game series.The Braves (80-64) scored once in the seventh inning and twice in the ninth to break from a 1-1 tie en route to a 4-1 victory in the series opener on Monday night.The win was Atlanta’s fourth in five tries on a seven-game Western swing and pushed the Braves a season-best five games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies (74-68) in the National League East.Article continues below ...Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson continue a run of productive late-game plate appearances with a pair of sacrifice flies that accounted for Atlanta’s seventh-inning run and one of its ninth-inning tallies in the win.The two RBIs ran the 24-year-old’s season total to a career-best 57, 26 of which have come in the seventh through ninth innings. He’s hitting .323 in those innings.Both sacrifice flies scored Ozzie Albies Joey Wendle Jersey , who had doubled and tripled to put himself in scoring position. He now has 19 extra-base hits — 12 doubles, two triples and five home runs — in the seventh through ninth innings.The three late runs raised the Braves’ season total in the seventh through ninth to 232, just one fewer than the NL-leading Chicago Cubs.The Braves will look to pad their total against Giants rookie left-hander Andrew Suarez (6-10, 4.33) and/or a San Francisco bullpen that’s been leaking oil of late.Suarez recorded his first major-league win in Atlanta on May 6, limiting the Braves to one unearned run in 5 1/3 innings.He left with a three-run lead, then almost saw his win evaporate into thin air when Atlanta got rolling offensively late in the game, scoring twice off Giants closer Hunter Strickland in the ninth before stranding the potential tying run at third base.The outing was the only time Suarez has faced the Braves.Strickland has been a part of a Giants bullpen that has contributed big-time to the team’s current nine-game losing streak.The bullpen has allowed 15 runs in 24 2/3 innings (5.47 ERA) in those games http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-christian-arroyo-jersey , registering two blown saves and four losses.Strickland has allowed at least one run in six of his last nine appearances, including the two in the ninth inning Monday against the Braves.Atlanta will counter Tuesday with right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (10-9, 2.75), who has a 2-3 lifetime record and a 5.35 ERA in six starts against the Giants.Those numbers got worse when he pitched in a 9-4 loss home to San Francisco in May and got hammered for a six-run second inning.The Giants swept that three-game series in Atlanta.The late start on the West Coast on Tuesday night will give the Braves an opportunity to do some serious scoreboard-watching as their chief rival in the East, the Phillies, play a double-header against the Washington Nationals that starts at 12:05 p.m. Pacific time.The double-header was the result of a postponement Monday due to a soggy field.