e.Hammel, trying to win a spot in Chicagos postseason rotation, allowed four hits and walked one during his best outing in a month. The right-hander went

CHICAGO -- Dexter Fowler hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the seventh inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-2 on Monday night.Fowlers line drive into center field capped a three-run rally for the Cubs after they were shut down by Tim Adleman most of the night. It also made a winner of Jason Hammel (15-9), who pitched seven solid innings.Jason Heyward added a two-run homer in the eighth as the Cubs moved seven games ahead of Washington for the best record in the National League, lowering their magic number for clinching home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs to five. Thats the only major goal still out there during the regular season for major league-leading Chicago after it secured the NL Central title last week.Brandon Phillips homered for last-place Cincinnati, which has lost five of six. Joey Votto went 2 for 3 with an RBI single and a walk, increasing his batting average since the All-Star break to .416.The Reds allowed three more homers to run their season total to 242, breaking the major league record of 241 belonging to the 1996 Detroit Tigers.The Cubs (95-55) were coming off a lackluster series against the Brewers, dropping three of four while celebrating their division title, and manager Joe Maddon met with his hitters before facing the Reds to talk to them about making the most of the final part of the season.Its unusual being in this position like we are right now, Maddon said after the meeting. So youve got two weeks of baseball, major league baseball, left in September, so lets work on some stuff. Lets work on things that we need to work on individually or as a group.There was no sign of any carry-over from the meeting before Addison Russell led off the seventh with a drive to left for his 21st homer. Willson Contreras crushed another homer with one out, tying it at 2 and chasing Adleman from the longest start of his rookie year.Chris Coghlan greeted Blake Wood (6-4) with a double to right. After pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella popped out, Fowler made it 3-2 with his only hit of the game.Hammel, trying to win a spot in Chicagos postseason rotation, allowed four hits and walked one during his best outing in a month. The right-hander went 1-4 with an 8.61 ERA in his previous five starts.Hector Rondon worked the eighth before Aroldis Chapman finished for his 15th save with the Cubs and 35th on the year. It was Chapmans first career appearance against Cincinnati, which traded the hard-throwing closer to the New York Yankees last December.PACKING THEM INThe paid attendance of 39,251 ran the Cubs season total to 3,028,965 with five home games left in the regular season. Its the franchises first time drawing more than 3 million since 2011, and the ninth time at Wrigley Field overall.GETTING A CHANCEReds right-hander Josh Smith will make his first start of the season Tuesday. Manager Bryan Price said the game would have a bullpen flavor to it.The Reds need a starter after playing a doubleheader Saturday.Its a good opportunity, said Smith, who threw 62 pitches Saturday. I enjoy starting. Its what I was used to until this year.TRAINERS ROOMReds: RHP Homer Bailey (biceps) is scheduled for another bullpen session Wednesday. Its still possible that hell make a start or two before the year is out, Price said. ... A day after saying CF Billy Hamilton (oblique) was improbable to return this season, Price put SS Zack Cozart (knee) in the same category. Were certainly not going to rush him through the rehab process, Price said.Cubs: OF Jorge Soler (tightness on his right side) could be available to pinch hit on Tuesday, according to Maddon. ... Right-handed reliever Pedro Strop, who is coming back from knee and groin injuries, is on track to pitch in a simulated game soon.UP NEXTSmith (3-1, 4.97 ERA) will be opposed by Cubs LHP Jon Lester (17-4, 2.40), who is 8-0 with a 1.47 ERA in his last 11 starts.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap Marc-Andre Ter Stegen Jersey . "We have always prided ourselves on the way we play defence. Having two big pieces back is going to be a key for us moving forward for years to come," said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. Henrikh Mkhitaryan Jersey .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. http://www.arsenalsoccerproshop.com/Authentic-Sokratis-Papastathopoulos-Arsenal-Jersey/ . -- Charlie Graham stopped 67 shots as the Belleville Bulls edged the visiting Guelph Storm 6-5 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Emiliano Martinez Arsenal Jersey . Its the second straight game Bell has scored in extra time for Kelowna, which beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-5 on Friday, and he now has four game-winning goals on the season. Alex Iwobi Jersey . He says so-called TRT is only one problem and he wants to go even further than the ban. "Its about time," St-Pierre told reporters at a promotional event in Montreal on Friday. "I think its a good thing. The BCCI remains hopeful Indias Supreme Court will take a considered decision on the Lodha Committees latest proposal to disqualify all office bearers in the board and state associations if they fail to fulfill the eligibility criteria. A few of the BCCIs top office bearers and officials said the board will not change its stance, but was happy to sit with the committee and have a dialogue to find a solution to the long-standing feud.The latest suggestions were a part of the committees third status report, which was submitted in the court on November 18. The committee has told the court that despite clear timelines in place to implement the recommendations that were approved by the court in its July 18 judgement, neither the BCCI nor the state associations have obeyed the order, and have continued to be negligent.One reason for the BCCIs optimism was because the court had earlier refrained from approving a proposal of the committee to supersede the top brass of the board.In an order on October 21, the court noted that although it had found substance in the status report, it said at this stage it was refraining from approving the committees suggestion to supersede the office bearers because the board had said in a submission to the court that it would make every genuine effort to persuade the state associations to comply with the recommendations.The BCCI maintains it has done so in the interim. The committee wants us to implement all the recommendations in toto or wants all the office bearers to go, a senior board office bearer said. But no one understands that the BCCI has already accepted nearly 75% of the recommendations, most of those being already put into practice.The board, however, has consistently opposed certain key reforms such as the age cap of 70 years for board officials, the tenure cap of nine years with cooling-off periods in between, and the one-state-one-vote policy, among others.Thakur and Shirke had been asked to submit written undertakings to the court stating the board would unequivocally implement the order of October 21, and then meet with thhe Lodha Committee.dddddddddddd. The October 21 order had limited the financial freedom of the BCCI and had also directed the board not to disburse any funds to state associations until they complied unreservedly with the recommendations.In their affidavits, both Thakur and Shirke pointed out that board members had voted against adopting all the recommendations of the committee at the BCCI special general meeting on October 1. It is understood that committee did not feel it necessary to meet the BCCIs top office bearers after that, considering they had already stated the board would not comply with the court order.However the BCCIs reading of the situation is different. To ensure that cricket runs smoothly, the court had asked the committee to appoint an auditor as soon as possible, the office bearer said. No auditor has been appointed so far. The committee was also asked to set a threshold limit for various financial transactions the BCCI gets into. No threshold limit has been given. All our major decisions have been put on hold.The BCCI also questioned why the committee had proposed retired bureaucrat and former home secretary GK Pillai as an observer to look after the governance of the board. The committee suggested Pillai could also approve the various contractual obligations of the board in the future.On the one hand the committee says there should not be any government officials [working as an office bearer or official]. On what basis did they then pick GK Pillai? Was there a process? the office bearer said. Incidentally the committee has never imposed any restrictions on former civil servants, which Pillai is.A top BCCI official said that an adverse court decision against the board was not likely to affect the ongoing Test series between India and England. Already the court has approved expenses for those Test matches till December 5. For the remaining matches, we will have to wait and see what the court says, the official said. ' ' '