ost sent the game into overtime, but Fisher-Davis couldnt get a crucial foul s

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs have featured one of the best lineups in baseball this season.Lately, however, the Cubs have sputtered at the plate. The team has lost three of its past four games against right-handed starters Zach Davies, Junior Guerra, Miguel Gonzalez and James Shields.Cubs manager Joe Maddon wants to see the slump come to a stop when his players welcome the Chicago White Sox to Wrigley Field on Wednesday night. The Cubs dropped the first two games of the annual crosstown battle Monday and Tuesday on the South Side before the series shifted north.I think theyre taking advantage of our youth, Maddon said of opposing pitchers after Tuesdays 3-0 loss to the White Sox. Primarily, we have to not expand the strike zone. Weve been expanding a little bit against these guys. Weve got to keep them in the zone, and obviously when they make a mistake, its got to be hit hard and kept fair. We have not done that. We fought back a couple games ... but overall, the starting pitching the last four games has forced us out of our game plan.Despite a recent blip, the Cubs (59-40) possess the best record in the National League. A star-studded roster became even deeper this week as the team acquired left-handed closer Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees. Chapman joined the Cubs on Tuesday and could make his team debut at Wrigley Field.Meanwhile, the White Sox (50-50) have climbed back to .500 thanks to a four-game winning streak that included three straight walk-off victories against the Detroit Tigers and Cubs. The White Sox won two of three games at Wrigley Field last season and are 27-25 all-time at the Friendly Confines.Cubs right-hander Jason Hammel (9-5, 3.35 ERA) will look to win his third straight outing when he takes the mound against the White Sox. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound hurler is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two starts since the All-Star break. He is 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA in eight starts this season at Wrigley Field.Hammel, 33, has not faced the White Sox as a member of the Cubs. He is 1-2 with a 4.01 ERA in nine games (four starts) against the South Siders, whom he last faced in 2013 with the Baltimore Orioles.Right-hander Anthony Ranaudo (1-0, 17.18 ERA) is set to make his team debut with the White Sox. The 26-year-old opened the season with the Texas Rangers before he was traded to Chicago on May 12 for right-handed pitching prospect Matt Ball. The White Sox recalled him from Triple-A Charlotte on Sunday to fill the roster spot created by Chris Sales five-day suspension for destroying team equipment.Although Ranaudo always has tantalized scouts -- then-Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein selected him in the supplemental first round (39th overall) in 2010 -- he has yet to excel in the majors. Ranaudo is 5-4 with a 6.33 ERA in 13 career games (nine starts). In two relief appearances with Texas earlier this season, he allowed seven runs in 3 2/3 innings. He walked eight and struck out two.At the plate, White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu has started to heat up after a slow start to the season. Abreu has reached base in 43 of his past 46 games. He is hitting .276 with 11 home runs and 56 RBI, but he has gone a career-high 26 consecutive games without going deep.Abreu clubbed 36 home runs in 2014 and 30 home runs last season. This season, he is on pace to hit 17.You can see that there is probably some frustration with the homers and the expectations he puts on himself, White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. Right now, I think hes a lot better off at the plate just mechanically, mentally, all that stuff that goes into it. Hes just a better hitter right now. You go through periods where you dont swing it very well, but right now hes in a pretty good spot.Custom Washington Nationals Jerseys . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. Yan Gomes Jersey . Tracey comes to the Blue Bombers after spending over a decade with Queens University. Most recently he was the schools assistant football coach. https://www.cheapnationals.com/637r-spencer-kieboom-jersey-nationals.html . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Michael A. Taylor Jersey .Y. -- Syracuse has turned up the defence at the right time all season, and when High Point threatened to pull off a monumental upset the second-ranked Orange did what they do best with their quick hands and savvy play. Matt Adams Jersey . -- Arizona raced out to a big lead and did not back off, hitting the accelerator instead.NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Slow starts doomed Bucknell to two double-digit losses earlier in the season.The Bison started slow again Monday night against Vanderbilt, but this recovered for an upset win.Zach Thomas scored 17 points and Stephen Brown and Nana Foulland both added 15 to lead Bucknell in a 75-72 upset of Vanderbilt in the campus portion of the Las Vegas Invitational.Bucknells last win over a Southeastern Conference team was a 59-55 victory over Arkansas in the 2006 NCAA Tournament.We played at Wake Forest and we got blown out there, and then we played at Butler and we got blown out, Thomas said. We got off to a bad start here, but we battled back and showed our toughness tonight and that was a big win for us.Things looked bad for the Bison (3-2) when the Commodores (2-2) hit eight of their first nine shots from the floor, including their first five, to take an early nine-point lead.But a 16-4 run reversed the momentum and Bucknell led 40-38 at halftime.Vanderbilts Matthew Fisher-Davis scored 23 points, including a 3-pointer that tied the game at 65-all with 3:38 left.He had a chance to send the game into overtime, but made only 2 of 3 foul shots with 5.2 seconds left, narrowing Bucknells lead to 73-72.I was just praying hed miss one and he did, and that helped us out, Thomas said.Fisher-Davis finished 4 of 7 from 3-point range.Kimball Mackenzie added two foul shots for Bucknell with 4.1 seconds left. Foulland grabbed 12 rebounds.Hopefully, it will show our guys what theyre capable of, understanding that were not nearly where we need to be to get to where we want to go, but its all there in front of us, Bison coach Nathan Davis said.Luke Kornet scored 19 points and Riley LaChance had 10 points and six assists for Vanderbilt.The lead changed hands seven times early in the second half before an 8-0 spurt by Bucknell gave the Bisoon a 63-56 lead with 10:48 left and Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew called a time out.ddddddddddddCredit Bucknell, Drew said. They made shots tonight, they played with a lot of passion coming off a game they didnt play as well. They definitely showed a lot of urgency, a lot of energy tonight.With the win, the Bison improved to 4-9 against SEC teams.They had some spurts where we had a lot of trouble scoring the ball, Kornet said. They were disciplined offensively and defensively. They just did a good job of working to get good shots and then they hit them when they got them.BIG PICTUREBucknell: The Bison suffered two double-digit losses earlier in the season, but showed their resiliency against Vanderbilt.Vanderbilt: The Commodores almost sent the game into overtime, but Fisher-Davis couldnt get a crucial foul shot to drop late despite playing an impressive game overall.BENCH SUPPORTA lot of Bucknell bench players contributed to the win. Avi Toomer, the freshman, came in and gave us an edge when we werent getting stops and we needed it, Davis said. I thought Nate Sestina did the same thing. D.J. MacLeay and Mackenzie also played strong defensively.CONFIDENCE BUILDERGetting a win at Vanderbilt, where the Commodores play so well, will probably help Bucknell. Last year we played a lot of teams really close and didnt get over the hump, Davis said. Hopefully, today they got over the hump and they understand how hard it is and how much effort youve got to give.UP NEXTBucknell plays Norfolk State at the Las Vegas Invitational on Thursday before meeting Sacred Heart or Northern Colorado the next day.Vanderbilt faces Butler at the Las Vegas Invitational on Thursday before playing No. 8 Arizona or Santa Clara on Friday. ' ' '