OAKLAND, Calif. -- NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta isnt quite satisfied hes recovered his dominant stuff after a pedestrian July.He didnt look far off Saturday. Arrieta pitched eight innings of three-hit ball to get his first victory in over a month and the Chicago Cubs beat the Oakland Athletics 4-0.Really close, Arrieta said when asked if hes back to full strength.Arrieta (13-5) was 0-3 in his previous five starts and 1-4 since ending a 20-decision winning streak on June 22. He struck out four and walked one on 108 pitches.Emphasis (is) on sinking the ball down, middle down in the strike zone and forcing action early on, Arrieta said. Not worrying about strikeouts. Those will come in big situations. Maybe guy on third, a guy on second base, no outs, less than two, punchouts are more important. Im trying to get through the middle innings.The NL Central-leading Cubs have won five straight and 16 of 22, and they moved a season-best 27 games over .500 for a second time this season. They gave the As their seventh loss in eight games.Ben Zobrists two-out two-run single off former As teammate Sonny Gray broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third.Im watching them out there from the very first pitch ... theyre engaged, theyre present-tense, ready to go, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. The guys are very confident right now, and the pitching permits this all to happen. You cant get hot without good pitching and our starters have been fantastic.Were firing on all cylinders right now, Arrieta said. Does that mean we wont lose three in a row? Who knows? It doesnt matter to us. We want to come out tomorrow and keep the momentum on our side.Gray (5-11) left after five innings with soreness in the extensor muscle in his right forearm. He allowed two runs on five hits.He first felt the injury after striking out Dexter Fowler with a curveball in the top of the fourth.I was trying to go back out there for the sixth, Gray said. I told them after the fourth I had a little bit of an issue come up and when I went back out for the fifth it kind of felt the same.They kind of decided to shut it down there. I lobbied to go back out there. It obviously wasnt going to happen.The injury is the latest setback in a disastrous season for the 26-year-old right-hander, whos already been on the disabled list with a right shoulder injury. Gray, a 2015 All-Star who last season finished third in AL Cy Young balloting, had the highest ERA in the majors (5.84) going into Saturday.Zobrist and Addison Russell had two hits each for the Cubs.ROSTER MOVEThe As sent LHP Dillon Overton to Triple-A Nashville and called up LHP Patrick Schuster. Overton had a 10.97 ERA and allowed 11 homers in five starts. Schuster was 1-0 with a 1.16 ERA and seven saves in 32 appearances (all in relief) at Nashville.BILLY-BALL COMMEMORATEDThe As commemorated the early 1980s Billy-Ball era with former players Rick Langford, Mike Heath, Dwayne Murphy, Mike Norris and Mike Davis attending a pregame ceremony and Billy Martin Jr. throwing the first pitch. Former broadcaster Roy Steele and professional cheerleader Krazy George also attended. The As wore vintage gold jerseys and the Cubs sported powder blue from the same era.TRAINERS ROOMCubs: RHP John Lackey will take RHP Jason Hammels next turn in the rotation on Tuesday. Hammel, whos been on the bereavement list since Aug. 5, will make his next start on Wednesday.Athletics: RHP Henderson Alvarez, sidelined since spring training recovering from shoulder surgery last summer, has started plyometric workouts ahead of a throwing program after a recent doctors appointment cleared him. ... LHP Sean Doolittle threw a 25-pitch bullpen session on Saturday. Hes been on the disabled list with a shoulder strain since June 26.UP NEXTCubs: RHP Kyle Hendricks has a 1.04 ERA over his last nine outings, including eight starts, since June 19. He threw 123 pitches in his last start, a shutout against Miami. Hendricks has never faced the Athletics.Athletics: Rookie LHP Sean Manaea is 1-2 with a 3.14 ERA in his last seven outings, including six starts, since coming off the disabled list June 29 with a forearm strain. Manaea is 1-1 with a 3.55 ERA in two interleague starts. Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team. Stitched NFL Jerseys . Robredo, ranked No. 16, bounced back from an upset loss to Leonardo Mayer in the second round of the Royal Guard Open in Chile last week to down Carreno Busta in 1 hour, 25 minutes. On a day filled mostly with qualifying matches, fifth-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain also entered the second with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win over Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, while Guido Pella of Argentina defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4 to advance. http://www.cheapnfljerseyschinateam.com/ . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic . P.A. Parenteau scored early in the third period to help the Avs edge Toronto 2-1 on Tuesday night. Cory Sarich also scored for Colorado (3-0-0), which is off to its best ever start. Authentic NFL Jerseys . PETERSBURG, Fla. MINNEAPOLIS -- After an 0-2 start in the Big Ten, the Minnesota Golden Gophers have fought their way back into the race for the West Division title. Heres where it starts to get interesting.Rodney Smith ran for 153 yards and three touchdowns and quarterback Mitch Leidner ran for 74 yards and two more scores Saturday as Minnesota defeated Purdue 44-31.The Gophers (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten) opened conference play with an overtime loss at Penn State and a home loss to Iowa. But theyve rattled off four straight wins over admittedly lesser foes -- Maryland, Rutgers, Illinois and Purdue, who have combined for five conference victories this season.Now the schedule gets tougher, with road games at Nebraska and Wisconsin sandwiched around a visit from Northwestern. Minnesota can win the Big Ten West if it wins out, which seemed and unlikely position for them to be in four weeks ago.After our first two conference games nobody gave us a chance ... to be in here, Gophers coach Tracy Claeys said. They kind of said the season was over. We just kept battling one game at a time and we fought our way back into this thing.Smith and Leidner put the points on the board on Saturday, but the Gophers resurgence in the past month and against Purdue was due in large part to its defensive effort. Trailing 28-23 at halftime, Minnesota forced three second-half turnovers, and the offense turned each of them into touchdowns as the Gophers outscored the Boilermakers 21-3 in the second half.We cant keep beating ourselves like that. Its frustrating, said Purdue quarterback David Blough, who threw four touchdown passes in the first half but was held in check after the break. They gave us every single coverage in America in the second half, they kept throwing wrenches in (our offense).Purdue (3-6, 1-5) again was competitive but continued to be plagued by second-half woes in its third game since head coach Darrell Hazell was fired. The Boilermakers have been outscored 83-10 in the second half in their last three games.It puts tears in my eyes not to be able to get them to a point they can finish, Purdue interim coach Gerad Parker said. Thought it was a chance for us, got into the third quarter and had a chance to win the game. We got to do that and relay to them its not okay to finish short and just be close.As Purdue tries to regroup, Minnesota gets ready for the most important stretch of its season, beginning with a game Saturday night at Nebraska. That leaves little time to celebrate its recent success.It feels good, but we have bigger goals, Smith said. This week is a big weeek coming up for us and we know that.ddddddddddddSTREAKINGPurdue receivers racked up more than 100 yards after the catch in the first half thanks to two long touchdowns off short passes. In the first quarter, Cameron Posey caught a ball one step ahead of Minnesota safety Damarius Travis and ran the last 60 yards untouched for an 89-yard touchdown. De Yancey later shook off a tackle and ran the last 45 yards of a 60-yard touchdown playYou never know until you get into the games how youre going to match up, Claeys said. Speeds hard to tell on video -- it really is. So after those two big plays we went to more safety help on them.OFF TARGETMinnesota linebacker Nick Rallis was ejected after being called for targeting in the fourth quarter. Hell miss the first half of the Nebraska game as a result. Replays appeared to show that Rallis made a clean hit with his shoulder but the replay official confirmed the ejection.That was the sixth targeting call against the Gophers, and though Claeys admitted to frustration over the inconsistent way the rule has been interpreted and implemented, he knew better than to say anything about it after the game.I would add more but Christmas is coming up and I would much rather use my money on Christmas presents than send it to the Big Ten, he said.THE TAKEAWAYPurdue: Blough ended the day with 391 passing yards, the fifth time hes passed for 300 yards this year. . Yancey and Posey each topped 100 receiving yards with a touchdown for PurdueMinnesota: Smith topped the 100-yard mark for the fourth straight game and sixth time this season. . Gophers running back Shannon Brooks missed the game due to an unspecified injury. . Minnesota rushed for five touchdowns for the second straight game. . Sophomore Emmit Carpenter became the first Gopher in 19 years to kick two 50-yard field goals in a game. Carpenter converted from 52 and 53 yards in the first half. . Sophomore linebacker Blake Cashman, a walk-on filling in for two injured teammates, finished the game with two sacks.LAST WORDI know to you guys it seems like a theme: Purdue cant finish in the second half. But we were just as ready in the second half as we were in the first half. It was not anything about lack of effort. They just made more plays in the second half. -- Boilermakers linebacker Markus BaileyUP NEXTPurdue hosts Northwestern on Saturday afternoon.Minnesota travels to Nebraska for a Saturday night clash with the Cornhuskers. ' ' '