ntina scored. There was plenty of time on the clock and

CHICAGO -- Not only did Matt Garza pitch the Chicago Cubs to a victory Friday, he might also have boosted his trade value. Garza worked into the ninth inning and Anthony Rizzo hit his first home run since May 18 to lead the Cubs over the Houston Astros 3-1 after a rain delay that lasted more than 3 hours. The subject of trade speculation, Garza (2-1) allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight-plus innings for his first win since beating Arizona on May 31. It was an outing that certainly could make Garza more attractive on the trade market. The rebuilding Cubs began the day 17 games out of first place in the NL Central, and Garza can become a free agent after the season. The right-hander, however, didnt say much about the chatter surrounding his future. "Im looking forward to the next five days," Garza said. "That day I face Milwaukee in Milwaukee and Ill be ready." Cubs manager Dale Sveum is well aware of all the speculation about Garza but doesnt want to lose a pitcher who has allowed one run over his past 15 innings, his best stretch since coming off the disabled list May 21. "You dont want to give up those guys," Sveum said, "but obviously its a business and thats not my part of my business." Darwin Barney and Scott Hairston also homered for the Cubs, who had lost four of five. Garza, who threw seven scoreless innings Sunday in a no-decision against the Mets, was three outs from his first complete game since Sept. 21, 2011, against Milwaukee when he went out to the mound in the ninth. But he walked Jose Altuve to begin the inning and was replaced by Kevin Gregg, who earned his 11th save in 11 tries. "Im a little upset I didnt finish it, but thats on me," Garza said. "I walked a leadoff guy in the ninth and theres no reason to leave me in there. Youve got a guy thats closing games really well now, so you just hand it over and watch." Rizzo, meanwhile, will be with the Cubs for a while and is a key to their rebuilding efforts. The first baseman, who entered in a 4-for-40 slump, finished with two hits after the start was delayed by rain for 3 hours, 18 minutes. Rizzo agreed to a $41 million, seven-year contract on May 13 and has struggled since the deal, hitting .200 with one home run and 11 RBIs entering Friday. Chris Carter broke up Garzas shutout bid with a leadoff homer in the seventh. Barney was a triple short of the cycle for Chicago, which had scored 11 runs in its last five games. Hairston added a solo home run off Dallas Keuchel in the sixth to make it 3-0. Barney has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games and has had at least two hits in three of those games. "Ive just been ready to hit every pitch, not assuming that the first pitch is going to be a ball or anything like that," Barney said. "Id be lying if I said I didnt learn something from watching those Cardinals hitters as well." Barney said the Cardinals, who beat the Cubs three out of four this week, "have a good approach." That helped the Cubs beat the Astros, who had won six of eight. It was the first interleague matchup between the teams after 705 meetings in the National League. Keuchel (4-4) lost for the second time in three decisions, pitching six innings and giving up three runs and nine hits while striking out a career-high nine. Keuchel hadnt allowed multiple home runs in any outing, and only eight all season before giving up three Friday. "I thought he made a couple of mistakes and they made him pay for it," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "They were all solo home runs and he did a good job of keeping us in the game. Unfortunately, offensively we couldnt muster too much off of their guy." NOTES: The Cubs traded Triple-A infielder Brent Lillibridge to the New York Yankees for a player to be named or cash. Lillibridge had one hit in 24 at-bats before being sent down to Iowa on April 18. . Carlos Pena, who led the 2011 Cubs with 28 home runs, played the 1,458th game of his career but the first against Chicago. Facing Garza, a teammate on the 2008 AL champion Tampa Bay Rays, Pena was 0 for 3 before grounding out against Gregg to end the game. ... Astros RHP Edgar Gonzalez began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City. Gonzalez went on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder strain May 26. ... Houston 1B-OF Marc Krauss made his major league debut in the eighth and struck out swinging. ... Bud Norris (5-7, 3.64 ERA) pitches Saturday for Houston against Travis Wood (5-6, 2.74). Fake Jerseys Cheap . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Fake Jerseys . According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. https://www.fakejerseysfromchina.com/ . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Fake Jerseys From China . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. Cheap Jerseys From China . Ouellette, from Montreal, already has three Olympic gold medals since joining the team in 1999. Sean Maitland believes Scotland are starting to hit all the right notes because they now have the X factor.The winger says the likes of Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg and new centre Huw Jones have the talent to unlock any defence.Jones in particular has quickly proven himself to be game-changer in his first two Test starts.He scored a brace against Australia last week and followed up with a sublime assist for Maitlands try during Saturdays narrow 19-16 win over Argentina.Vern Cotters men have one final autumn international against Georgia next week before they turn their attentions to the RBS 6 Nations but Maitland is already excited about what lies ahead.X factor players you would probably call them, the Saracens back said when asked about the likes of Russell, Hogg and Jones.I think our back line, the cohesion and the synergy, is getting top class. Hopefully well have Duncy (Duncan Taylor) coming back from injury soon so there is going to be a lot of competition in our midfield and our back three as well so its only going to be healthy for Scottish rugby.Im sure Vern will have some difficult decisions coming up for the Six Nations.Scotland looked to be in trouble against the Pumas after allowing Matias Orlando to score the opening try 10 minutes into the second half. But Jones produced a stunning off-load to put Maitland in for a touchdown in the corner as Scotland hit back immediately.With the scores locked at 16-16, skipper Greig Laidlaw thought he had allowed a crucial win to slip through his grasp when he smashed a penalty against the post two minutes from time. But he was given another chance deep into stoppage time and made it count as he knocked over the winning kick.Maitland, though, paid tribute to Jones for providing the spark Scotland needed.He said: Our outside backs didnt really see too much ball. Its was just one of those games where you only get a few chances and Huuw made something out of nothing.dddddddddddd He had the vision to see me on the outside and get me in for a little lollipop try so its always good to get over the line and score.The conditions were really difficult. We always knew it was going to be one of those tight games but we hung in there.In the first half we lost a lot of ball to the conditions. But we played better in the second half.The win now moves Cotters men above Argentina in the world rankings and up to eighth. That could yet prove crucial to Scotlands 2019 World Cup hopes but it also restored belief after they lost to a similarly late kick against the Wallabies the week before.Weve talked about the Australia game all week and how we respond to setbacks, said Maitland.The big thing was not to panic when Argentina scored. There was plenty of time on the clock and we were only a converted try behind.The main thing was that Greig got the boys around him and made sure we just started again.We composed ourselves really well. There are always momentum shifts throughout a game and after the try it came back to us.We started hammering their line and its good to finally come out on the other side of a tight game.Cotter will likely give some of his fringe men the chance to impress against the Georgians at Kilmarnocks Rugby Park next Saturday.After that, the New Zealander will have five games left to shape his Scotland legacy before handing over the reins to Gregor Townsend. And Maitland admits his players are determined to give him a positive send-off.Everyone is a bit gutted that Verns leaving but thats footy, he said.Its a business at the end of the day and we want to leave him on a high. Weve developed our own brand under Vern of how we want to play the game and were improving game by game. ' ' '