Levine: Cole Hamels Subdues Cubs Again

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- With a look toward late October, two of baseball's best teams battled it out this weekend in what could be a World Series preview. On Sunday, the headlines belonged to Cole Hamels and his Texas Rangers teammates.

Hamels shut down the Cubs, allowing just one unearned run on four hits across eight innings in his team's 4-1 win at Wrigley Field. That allowed the Rangers to salvage the finale of a three-game matchup after the Cubs took the first two between the elite teams.

"That is a really good team," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "We won two out of three from a really good team. Don't let that get lost in the shuffle. That is what it looks like (elite postseason potential) -- really good pitching, good starting pitching and (Sam) Dyson was pretty dirty out of the bullpen."

The Rangers entered Sunday with the third-best record in the American League and the most victories.

"You look at that lineup, you look at those names and what they are capable of," Maddon said. "They are just a very good offensive club. So to take two out of three here, post-break, is pretty impressive. That is really what you are looking like postseason -- those kind of teams."

Cubs right-hander John Lackey was solid Sunday but not up to the level of Hamels. Lackey tied a season-high by going eight innings. A two-run Rangers second inning was paced by an Elvis Andrus RBI single and a Robinson Chirinos sacrifice fly. Chirinos added an RBI double in the fourth, and Ian Desmond led off the eighth with a solo home run off of Lackey to end the day's scoring.

The rest was all Hamels and closer Sam Dyson, who combined to strike out 10 Cubs hitters. The last time Hamels had pitched at Wrigley Field was last July, when he fired a no-hitter for the Phillies shortly before being traded to the Rangers.

"That is a tough pitcher," Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward said. "He is really tough if he gets any kind of lead. At that point, he kind of locks in and gets comfortable. I feel we had some good at-bats. When you add on late like they did, it helps."

The Cubs retained their eight-game lead over the Cardinals, who lost to the Marlins on Sunday. Chicago now prepares to host the New York Mets in a three-game set starting Monday that's a rematch of last season's NLCS. The Mets also swept the Cubs in a four-game set a couple weeks ago.

So is Chicago thinking payback?

"Honestly, it's another series," Maddon said. "We beat them seven straight in the regular season (in 2015). They returned the favor in the end (with the NLCS sweep). I am not a bulletin-board guy. Baseball is every day. If you play once a week like football, you can build up that emotion type of thing. You almost have to be emotionless in these baseball kind of moments."

Sunday's game was played in 2 hours, 17 minutes, the shortest contest at Wrigley Field since Aug. 19, 2013.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.