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CHICAGO -- Joey Vottos hard-hit comebacker struck Jon Lester and ricocheted toward first as the left-hander doubled over.Joe Maddon rushed to the mound, uncertain where the ball had hit his star pitcher. But Lester got up and wanted nothing of the visit, brushing off his manager just as he waved off curious reporters after the game.Its my right hand, Lester said. I dont need it.Lester overcame the injury scare to throw seven strong innings, Anthony Rizzo drove in three runs and the Chicago Cubs moved closer to securing the NLs best record with a 6-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.Lester (18-4) extended his scoreless streak to 21 innings before Jose Perazas RBI triple in the fifth. He allowed six hits, struck out five, walked none and added an RBI double. Lester improved to 9-0 since the All-Star break despite the welt on his right wrist.It could have been a lot worse, Maddon said.Rizzo had a two-run single in a four-run fourth and a run-scoring single in the sixth to give him 104 RBI. The Cubs 96th win reduced their magic number to three over Washington for clinching home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.The Cubs, who wrapped up the NL Central last week, are trying to find the right balance of staying sharp while getting rest and avoiding injury before the postseason. Thats why the crowd gasped and the trainer and Maddon rushed to check on Lester.Itll be fine, Lester said. Its a long way from the heart.He retired six of his final seven batters before leaving after 97 pitches. Lester took over the NL lead in wins and dropped his ERA to 2.36, helping his Cy Young Award candidacy.His competition includes teammate Kyle Hendricks. Maddon also has to decide which pitcher gets the ball in the playoff opener.If Im the guy, it will definitely be a huge honor, especially with the staff that we have, Lester said. If Im not the guy, tell me when Im going. Ill be there. Ill be ready.After David Ross singled with two outs in the second, Lester lined a fastball off Josh Smith (3-2) into right-center. The 39-year-old Ross, who has said hes retiring at the end of the season, lumbered from first and belly-flopped into home without a throw to put the Cubs ahead to stay.Thats more of a collapse than a slide, Ross said.Smith, making a spot start in a bullpen game for the Reds, left after allowing three hits over three innings.The Cubs scored four two-out runs in the fourth off Wandy Peralta, who walked Lester before Dexter Fowlers RBI single. Kris Bryant followed with a bloop RBI double.Bryant added a diving catch in a rare start in left field as the Cubs beat the last-place Reds for the 12th time in 15 tries.Our situation is were looking at some of the younger players we brought up for September and sometimes there are painful lessons, Reds manager Bryan Price said. Its hard to go through, but the only way these guys are going to learn how to pitch up here is to pitch.TRAINERS ROOMReds: RHP Homer Bailey (biceps) felt well enough that his bullpen session was moved up a day. Price was pleased and said its possible Bailey will get a start or two before the season ends. There hasnt been any issue regarding his surgically repaired elbow, Price said.Cubs: RHP Pedro Strop (knee, groin) threw a simulated game without issues and is set to come off the disabled list and pitch Friday, plugging the last postseason bullpen hole. Were expecting to have the time where I can get at least five or six innings in the regular season before playoffs, Strop said.SCRIPTED SERIESMaddon hopes to play scripted games to close the regular season: using relievers regardless of the situation, resting players and possibly having a bullpen game.Were playing the Cardinals this weekend and theres still playoff implications involved, and even with us there are in regards to winning home-field advantage, Maddon said. Hopefully, by next week it may be the time to script things.UP NEXTCubs RHP John Lackey (9-8, 3.42 ERA), contending with Jason Hammel for the final postseason rotation spot, starts the series finale Wednesday night against RHP Robert Stephenson (2-1, 4.97). Fake Jordan Shoes . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. Fake Jordan Shoes . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. https://www.fakeshoesonline.com/ . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. Fake Shoes Free Shipping .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. Cheap Shoes Fake . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. NEW YORK -- NBCs plans for the Olympics in Rio over the next two weeks define the term exhaustive.The network, its cable sisters and Olympics website plan 6,755 hours of coverage through the Aug. 21 closing ceremonies in Rio de Janeiro. Obsessive fans have plenty of viewing options, since every Olympic competition will be available live online along with the popular events airing in prime time on NBC.That includes Fridays opening ceremony, which is oddly being aired via tape delay despite Rio being only one hour ahead of Eastern time in the U.S.Bob Costas is the prime-time host for his 11th Olympics, and his continuity defines NBCs coverage. While there are new wrinkles every year -- Ryan Seacrest hosts a new late-night show, Mike Tirico joins from ESPN -- the NBC playbook and personnel remain very consistent. NBCs 170-member broadcast team includes a stable of former athletes, including swimmer Rowdy Gaines, gymnast Tim Daggett and diver Laura Wilkinson, that has combined for 59 Olympic medals.NBC executives strongly believe in how they cover the Olympics, particularly the menu of sports offered on the network each night, and consider the events ratings strength is a public endorsement. The company paid $1.2 billion for the broadcast rights.The opening ceremony will be delayed an hour before being shown on NBC because the network wants the entertainment spectacle, which was seen by 40.7 million people in 2012, to be shown completely in U.S. prime time. NBC was also reportedly upset that because the Portugese language is being used for the parade of nations, the U.S. team (or Estados Unidos) will file into the stadium relatively early.In what is becoming an Olympics tradition, the run-up to the games was filled with foreboding stories: the Zika virus, polluted water, security concerns. HBOs Real Sports aired a thorough investigation last month into the International Olympic Committee and demands placed on host countries, but dont expect something similar on NBC.The network plans to address many of the issues unique to Rio early, perhaps in a one-hour preview scheduled for Thursday night, but will turn to the competition unless something unusual happens.I think when people are tuning in to watch the Olympics, theyll want to watch the Olympics, said Jim Bell, executive producer of NBCs Olympicss coverage.dddddddddddd.Unlike previous Summer Games in Europe, Asia and Australia, the Rio games provide NBC a favorable time zone allowing it to televise many events live in swimming and track and field. With only a few exceptions, those sports -- along with gymnastics and volleyball -- get virtually all of the attention on NBCs prime-time broadcast.The rest of the sports are spread across 10 other networks, many with particular specialties.The Golf Channel, for example, concentrates on the Olympic return of its namesake sport. NBC executives expressed disappointment that several of the worlds top golfers, including Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, are staying away from the event because of concerns about the Zika virus, and suggested theyd someday regret it.Bravo will be the Olympic home of tennis. NBC is also setting up speciality channels for both basketball and soccer, although those sports will also be shown on other networks.The NBC Sports cable network will be the busiest, airing 330 hours of Olympics programming covering 20 sports. On most days of the games, NBCSN will air Olympics coverage from 8 a.m. to midnight. Other coverage will be spread around CNBC, MSNBC and USA. Telemundo and NBC Universo will narrate events in Spanish, focusing on sports and athletes popular in Latin America.NBC, which likes to use the Olympics as a laboratory for new technology and ideas, will also distribute 83 hours of coverage in the 4K Ultra HD format.Once again, the NBC Olympics website offers live streams of every competition. To access this material, a customer must validate an account with a cable or satellite provider.The attention speaks to the huge economic opportunity the games provide NBC in a fragmented media world. NBC is betting, and in fact has advertised the Olympics, on the idea that viewers can use a pick-me-up from a drumbeat of bad news.Theres been a lot of tough things going on in the world, Bell said. I think it will be nice, fingers crossed, if we can have a couple of weeks to give people something to cheer about.---Follow David Bauder at twitter.com/dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder ' ' '