The 37-year-old De La Rosa got three outs for his first career save

CHICAGO (AP) — With Pedro Strop sidelined by a hamstring injury Denny McLain Jersey , Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon gave the ball to Jorge De La Rosa for the ninth inning.And it worked. helping the Cubs top the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 on Friday night.Ian Happ hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning as NL Central-leading Chicago stayed 1 1/2 games ahead of second-place Milwaukee, which posted a 7-4 victory over Pittsburgh. Ben Zobrist had three hits, and Dillon Maples (1-0) earned his first career win.De La Rosa surrendered a one-out double to Curt Casali and walked Billy Hamilton with two down before Scott Schebler flied out to center. It was the first save opportunity for Chicago since Strop strained his left hamstring trying to beat out a double-play grounder during Thursday’s 4-3 victory at Washington, shelving the key reliever for the rest of the regular season.Strop had been subbing for closer Brandon Morrow, who is on the disabled list with a right arm injury.After Cole Hamels allowed two runs over 6 2/3 innings, Maples got the final out of the seventh, Jaime Garcia tossed a perfect eighth and De La Rosa closed it out in his 426th major league appearance.Maddon called it an “unlikely bullpen.”“The walk to Hamilton made it interesting, but (De La Rosa) had great composure,” he said. “First big league save, wow. Good for him.”Happ’s homer was just his second in 22 games. The 24-year-old switch hitter is batting .186 over the span.“It’s been a while since I’ve had one of those,” Happ said. “To get a hit in that situation coming off what we’ve had to do the last couple of weeks http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , to give us a chance to win a ballgame, it was great.”Cincinnati had won four of six, including two of three against the contending Los Angeles Dodgers. The last-place Reds wasted a terrific start by Matt Harvey, who struck out six in six scoreless innings.“It was just about getting ahead,” Harvey said. “The big thing was being able to mix different pitches for a strike and really throw it whenever I wanted to.“That was the first time in a long time that all four pitches were kind of doing exactly what I wanted to.”Cincinnati jumped in front on consecutive homers by Jose Peraza and Joey Votto in the fourth, but Chicago rallied after Harvey was replaced by David Hernandez (5-1).Victor Caratini led off the seventh with a single and David Bote reached on an error on third baseman Eugenio Suarez. After pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella hit into a forceout, Happ drove a 1-0 pitch into the bleachers in left-center.Hamels struck out seven to increase his career total to 2,396, matching Sandy Koufax for 48th on the all-time list. He is 4-0 in nine starts since he was acquired in a trade with Texas.CLOSER CONUNDRUMStrop had 11 saves in 13 opportunities since Morrow went on the DL in July. He is 6-1 with a 2.26 ERA over 59 2/3 innings in 60 appearances.Unless the Cubs can make a trade, Maddon said he envisions using a closer-by-committee approach, including veterans Steve Cishek, Justin Wilson and Jesse Chavez.TRAINER’S ROOMReds: RHP Lucas Sims is sidelined with a strain on his right side. “He’s got little something going on with his lat that he’s not available to pitch right now Kirk Gibson Jersey ,” manager Jim Riggleman said.Cubs: Morrow (right biceps inflammation) is scheduled to throw a simulated game on Saturday. … Maddon said OF Jason Heyward (right hamstring tightness) might return next week.UP NEXTReds LHP Cody Reed (0-2, 5.08 ERA) faces Cubs ace Jon Lester (15-6, 3.57 ERA) on Saturday. Lester lost his last start on Monday to Milwaukee, exiting after 5 2/3 innings with lower back tightness. CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) — CC Sabathia says 2019 will be his final season in the major leagues.“This will be it,” the 38-year-old left-hander said in a video posted on Twitter on Wednesday after the New York Yankees finalized his $8 million, one-year contract.Sabathia and New York had reached the agreement Tuesday, subject to a successful physical.A six-time All-Star and the 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner, Sabathia went 9-7 with a 3.65 ERA in 29 starts this year. He had surgery on his right knee after the 2010 season, in July 2014, after the 2016 season and again last month. Sabathia pitches with a brace on the knee and needs periodic injections there during the season.He is 246-153 in 18 major league seasons with a 3.70 ERA and 2,986 strikeouts http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , including 129-80 in a decade with the Yankees. His new deal boosts his pay from New York to $229 million.Sabathia signed a $161 million, seven-year contract with the Yankees before the 2009 season and led New York to its first World Series title since 2000, then used the leverage of an opt-out provision after the 2011 season to get a new deal that added a $25 million salary for 2016 with a $25 million team option for 2017.Sabathia took a cut to $10 million this year. He missed a $500,000 performance bonus by two innings when he was ejected in his last regular-season start for hitting Tampa Bay’s Jesus Sucre after Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge threw up-and-in to Austin Romine. Sabathia was suspended the first five games of 2019 but has appealed.“At this stage of the game, we should know sooner or later whether we’ll be able to agree on something or not,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman had said earlier Tuesday.“Last year we had to be really careful about every step we took in terms of financial commitments so it took longer because we were having to have that luxury-tax issue in the back of our minds.”New York dropped below the luxury-tax threshold for the first time in 2018. The Yankees’ projected rotation for 2019 also includes right-handers Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka, and Cashman says he intends to add several pitchers after the team went 100-62 only to finish second in the AL East and lose in the Division Series to Boston, the eventual World Series champion.Cashman said Luke Voit will head to spring training as the starter at first base, and it will be up to Greg Bird to earn the job back. Bird had ankle surgery in late March, returned in mid-May and hit .199 with 11 homers and 38 RBIs. Voit, acquired from St. Louis on July 28, hit .333 with 14 homers and 33 RBIs in 39 games.“He finished batting in the middle of our lineup in the postseason Victor Martinez Jersey , so I don’t see why three weeks since that time would change our evaluation process,” Cashman said.“Somebody’s earned that right and somebody because of injuries has been derailed for a period of time, but I do think that Birdy will benefit from time off and he will have a chance to resuscitate and prove himself.”Both can be optioned to the minors next year.Cashman repeated he intends to trade pitcher Sonny Gray, just 15-16 since New York acquired him from Oakland in July 2017. A right-hander who turns 29 this week, Gray bristled at the rough reception by Yankees fans.“It’s been a year-and-a-half, I’m not going to be Sisyphus pushing the rock up a hill and having it roll back on top of me,” Cashman said. “It’s not working. I’m not going to be willing to continue to walk through the fire and expect it to be a different result. So I will reallocate his abilities to some other club for a yet-to-be determined price tag, and he will be good again. Trust me. I think he’s a heck of a pitcher. He’s a very successful major leaguer, and it’s just going to happen somewhere else.”