CHICAGO -- Kyle Hendricks began the season as the Cubs No. 5 starter. Hes on pace to finish it as the major leagues ERA leader and -- if manager Joe Maddon has his way -- potentially with an even bigger trophy.Hendricks threw seven dominant innings to lower the majors best ERA to 2.09 and Anthony Rizzo homered to lead the Cubs past the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 on Tuesday night for Chicagos 21st victory in August.He has to be in Cy Young contention, Maddon said. Put the radar gun in your back pocket and look at what hes doing. There has to be strong consideration, not just consideration.Hendricks (13-7) allowed three hits and has given up three or fewer runs in 18 straight starts. He didnt allow a hit until Gregory Polancos bloop to left-center in the fifth and faced the minimum 17 batters until John Jasos two-out double in the sixth.Not bad for a guy who doesnt often hit 90 mph with his fastball.Hes not the guy whos getting away with plus-plus stuff. Hes just executing his game plan and he knows how to attack hitters, Rizzo said. He studies hitters and he went to Dartmouth and he has a really good education. So he out-tricks guys.Rizzo belted a two-run homer off Chad Kuhl (3-2) in the first and Miguel Montero added an RBI single an inning later as the Cubs improved to 84-47 despite only five hits.Carl Edwards Jr. worked the eighth and Aroldis Chapman hit 103 mph in a perfect ninth to finished the four-hitter for his 31st save. The Cubs improved to 21-6 this month, one win shy of the best August in franchise history set in 1932.Hendricks is well ahead of No. 2 Madison Bumgarner of San Francisco (2.49) in the ERA race. He only struck out four, but the Pirates had little solid contact as he kept them off-balance with a mix of pitches, including two- and four-seam fastballs.My fastball command was really good, Hendricks said. My curveball may have been the best its been all year. I threw a lot of good ones today.Andrew McCutchens one-out single in the seventh was the other hit off the right-hander. Hendricks is seeking to become the first Cubs pitcher to win the major league ERA title since Bill Lee in 1938.Since Sept. 1, 2015, Hendricks is 18-7 with a 2.25 ERA, Cy Young Award-type numbers.Where I was at last year and my goals coming into this year, what I was trying to do, I definitely didnt see myself as being a part of that, Hendricks said. I had my sights set a little lower.Kuhl, in his ninth major league start, allowed three runs and four hits in five innings as the Pirates lost their second straight after winning four in a row.Jordy Mercer doubled with two outs off Edwards in the eighth before pinch-hitter Matt Joyce flied deep to center to end Pittsburghs best threat.The Pirates fell 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second NL wild-card as they flailed away against Hendricks.The command, the execution, manager Clint Hurdle said. I thought I was back in 1987 with Greg Maddux on the mound.TRAINERS ROOMPirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (elbow inflammation) played catch, a day after being put on the 15-day disabled list. He could return as soon as Sept. 9. Hopefully, (the rehab) will go quickly, Cole said. . INF Jung Ho Kang (shoulder), working out with Indianapolis, is expected to begin an official rehab stint with the Triple-A team this week.Cubs: RHP John Lackey (shoulder) will throw a bullpen session Thursday. If it goes well, he could start Sunday vs. San Francisco.SUSPECT FIELDA large chunk of the outfield in center and right fields was re-sodded and looks chewed up after Wrigley Field hosted Pearl Jam and Billy Joel concerts while the Cubs were away.Its like a field after a concert, RF Jason Heyward said.UP NEXTRHP Jason Hammel (13-7, 3.21) was moved up to start Wednesday nights series finale against RHP Ryan Vogelsong (3-3, 3.02). LHP Mike Montgomery was pushed to Thursday. Hammel was lifted after allowing three runs in 2 1/3 innings Saturday. He wants to get back out there, Maddon said. Yeezy 350 V3 Store . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Stan Smith Store . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. http://www.cheapestairmaxstore.com/fake-yeezy-boost-700-cheap.html . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). Nike Basketball Shoes Clearance .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. Cheapest Yeezy 350 . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. After weeks of uncertainty, the WBA on Tuesday disclosed how it will handle its heavyweight situation, which was thrown into uncertainty when unified world champion Tyson Fury, dealing with alcohol, drug and mental health issues, vacated all of his belts last month.In the most significant development, the WBA said it would sanction a spring 2017 showdown for its super world title between Anthony Joshua, who also holds the IBF belt (which he would have to retain against Eric Molina on Dec. 10) and former world champion Wladimir Klitschko, who lost his belts to Fury in a huge November 2015 upset and had his Oct. 29 rematch canceled when Fury pulled out to deal with his personal problems.When that happened, the Joshua and Klitschko camps tried to make the fight for Dec. 10. However, with time running short to promote such a major fight, Klitschko suffering a minor calf injury, and the WBA still not having sanctioned the fight, they elected to put it off until March or April, probably in the United Kingdom, Joshuas home country.Klitschko manager Bernd Boente repeatedly told ESPN during the talks for the Joshua fight that having a WBA title on the line was a deal-breaker for Klitschko.Now Ukraines Klitschko (64-4, 54 KOs), 40, who has not boxed since the loss to Fury and will remain idle until the spring, has his wish; Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs), 27, will have a chance for a huge fight; and boxing fans will get perhaps the most anticipated match in the heavyweight division, provided the sides can finalize a deal, which both have said they do not believe will be an issue.Team Klitschko is very happy about this WBA resolution, Boente told ESPN on Tuesday night. Wladimir always was a proud and committed WBA super champion and now he wants to regain his title. From the beginning, Wladimir made clear how important it is to him that the WBA title is on the line in his next fight.Hopefully, Anthony Joshua wins his upcoming fight against Molina and then we have a mega event, a promoters dream fight coming true in March or April. Two Olympic super heavyweight gold-medal winners fighting each other, the young lion challenging the old lion. This is a fight each boxing fan around the world wants to see.Eddie Hearn, Joshuas promoter, earlier on Tuesday announced Joshuas fight with Molina, and suggested that things were on track for the Joshua-Klitschko showdown next year.Although the plans are for a major unification [fight] in the spring, this fight requires Anthonys full focus, Hearn said.In addition to agreeing to sanction Joshua-Klitschko for its super title, the WBA also said it would sanction a fight between Australias Lucas Browne (24-0, 21), 37, and 44-year-old Shannon Briggs (60-6-1, 53 KOs), a former two-time titleholder from Brooklyn, New York, for its vacant regular title as part of a legal settlement with Browne. Also, the winner of Browne-Briggs, a fight that was ordered to take place by Dec. 31, must face mandatory challenger Fres Oquendo within 120 days of the bout.Oquendo (37-8, 24 KOs), 43, of Chicago, won a case in U.S. federal court to force a WBA heavyweight title bout in the wake of his majority decision loss to Ruslan Chagaev for the vacant regular belt in July 2014.dddddddddddd Oquendo had a rematch clause in the contract but Chagaevs team attempted to set up another title defense first. It got even uglier when Oquendo claimed he was not paid for the fight, and the Chagaev team claimed Oquendo failed a drug test.Oquendos team sued in federal court to force the rematch and won an injunction to stop Chagaev from defending the belt against anyone other than Oquendo. But Oquendo has been idle since because of a shoulder injury that required surgery in November 2015, and even though Chagaev has retired, the WBA is still obligated to give Oquendo a title shot based on the court order. But since Oquendo is not available, Browne was ordered to face the leading available WBA contender, Briggs.Since absorbing a wicked beating at the hands of Vitali Klitschko in a 2010 world title fight that put him in the hospital for about two weeks, followed by a four-year retirement, Briggs has won nine fights in a row since his 2014 return, although he has faced extremely low-level opposition, hardly the kind of opponents that would ordinarily put a boxer in position to fight for a world title.As part of its ruling, the WBA also stripped Luis King Kong Ortiz of the interim belt for his failure to face mandatory challenger Alexander Ustinov after Ustinovs team won a recent purse bid.Failure to comply with the purse bid obligations or other WBA rules will result in a loss of [title] recognition, the WBA champions committee wrote in its ruling, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN. Ortiz has therefore relinquished the interim title.WBA president Gilberto Mendoza Jr. is in the process of ridding the organization of multiple world titles per division -- super, regular and interim belts -- and while it is not ideal to continue having multiple titles in the heavyweight division, Mendoza told ESPN that he remains committed to whittling each division down to one titleholder. But he said that Tuesdays resolution was the only one the organization had for its heavyweight title because it wanted to help facilitate the much-anticipated Joshua-Klitschko fight while also living up to its obligations to Browne and Oquendo.Initially my plan was to approve Klitschko versus Joshua for the WBA title, Mendoza said. The rest [I wanted] to have a box-off to earn the mandatory spot. Unfortunately, the justice system had a discrepancy with WBA new policy.As part of the WBA ruling, it said that Fury submitted a report from his psychologist confirming his clinical depression. The psychologist estimated that Fury would be fit to return to competition no earlier than late February 2017.The WBA went on to say that when Fury is prepared to fight again the organization will consider placing him back in its rankings and making him eligible to fight for its world title. ' ' '