CINCINNATI -- Bryan Price is looking forward to better days with the Cincinnati Reds.The last-place Reds announced Friday that Price would return next year for a fourth season as manager, and then lost 7-3 to Ben Zobrist and the Chicago Cubs.Price agreed to a one-year contract with a team option. The entire coaching staff also has been offered contracts for 2017.There is a mutual desire to stay connected, said Price, who has a 207-277 record as Cincinnatis manager. For me, its an unbelievable opportunity. It is a storied franchise. I have really enjoyed my coaches and my team.Joey Votto hit a two-run homer in the ninth for Cincinnati, which has dropped three of four. Josh Smith (3-3) was charged with two runs and three hits in five-plus innings.It was Smiths second start of the season after 30 relief appearances.I dont care what role Im in as long as Im wearing a Reds uniform, he said. I prefer to start. Ive done that all my life, but Ive kind of enjoyed my time in the bullpen, talking to guys like Tony Cingrani, who has been a starter. I have developed a routine out there.Zobrist homered twice and drove in three runs as Chicago improved to 14-3 against Cincinnati this season with two games to play. Jake Buchanan (1-0) pitched five shutout innings in his first start since 2014 with Houston.The NL Central champion Cubs, headed for the playoffs for the second straight year, announced contract extensions for general manager Jed Hoyer and player development director Jason McLeod. Their new deals run through the 2021 season, mirroring president of baseball operations Theo Epsteins contract announced on Wednesday.Smith retired his first 12 batters before Zobrist led off the fifth with a drive to right for his first homer since Sept. 12. The All-Star also connected for a two-run shot in Chicagos four-run eighth, No. 17 on the year.It was good, Smith said. I challenged hitters early and got a lot of early contact to pitch pretty deep in the game. The ball to Zobrist, I missed my spot.Chicagos first three batters reached in the sixth, chasing Smith, and Addison Russells RBI double made it 3-1.Josh kept us in the game, Price said. That four-run inning gave them the separation they needed.HISTORIC HOMERSZobrists homers were Chicagos 38th and 39th against the Reds this season, the most by one team against Cincinnati pitching in one season. The 1954 Brooklyn Dodgers and 1957 Milwaukee Braves previously shared the record with 38.EARLY WARNINGVotto, who left Thursdays game at St. Louis in the eighth inning with a cut on his chin that required seven stitches, texted Price at 3 a.m. Friday saying that he would be ready to play.TRAINERS ROOMCubs: OF Jorge Soler (discomfort on his right side) will be re-evaluated on Saturday, manager Joe Maddon said.Reds: 2B Brandon Phillips, sidelined by soreness in his left wrist and hand, was being examined Friday by members of the Reds medical staff, Price said.UP NEXTCubs: LHP Jon Lester (19-4) seeks his first career 20-win season in his last start. He is 2-0 with a 1.95 ERA in four starts against Cincinnati this season.Reds: RHP Tim Adleman (3-4), who set a career high with seven innings in his last start on Monday, will try to close out his season with back-to-back wins. Wholesale Rays Jerseys . As the crowd erupted, Davis knocked the ball off the glass and back into his hands. 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At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014. * This post contains spoilers. The biggest question lingering from the first episode of Pitch, was how sustainable is a television show like this? In fairness, thats a question most television shows face. I doubt people would have bet that Greys Anatomy would get to a 13th season, and by the way, the scripted program is still finding new material for the team at?Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.Pitch invests in its characters backstories and relationships as a means of augmenting the center story of its lead character, Ginny Baker, who is trying to make it in the big leagues. The result is a rich, full series that provides additional options for character development.In other words, Pitch is deep, yall.Plenty happened in the latest episode, which is aptly titled The Interim, but what really takes center stage is Baker struggling with the added media attention from Ginsanity -- the corny cousin of Linsanity from 2012 -- and how to use (or not to use) her elevated platform. No one can stop talking about her. The media wants her to comment on a sexual assault case in Florida; and a video of the Padres manager, Al, making sexist comments about her surfaces.Through it all, she insists that shes one of the guys and tells her agent, Im a ballplayer, like shes Monica from Love & Basketball yelling at Quincy.Ginny Baker, however, is not just one of the guys, no matter how much she wants to be, and thats not really what this is about anyway. Nestled within the conversations between Baker and her agent, teammate Mike Lawsons rousing pregame speech, and the probable firing of Al (Dan Lauria) is some exploration of identity politics.The Interim quietly asks, what does it really mean to be going through this experience as a woman, like Ginny Baker? What are her responsibilities? What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a captain? Are you still a good man if youre politically incorrect? And what matters more ... intent or impact?The answers to those questions are the beating heart of the show Pitch strives to be. During a set visit in August, executive producer and showrunner Kevin Falls said Pitch was about the human condition. Identity politics are absolutely part of what make up the human experrience, and the series certainly does not shy away from that.ddddddddddddWhile sitting across from real-life late show host Jimmy Kimmel, fictional character Ginny Baker says, It seems like Im making a statement just by existing lately.Thats a loaded statement, and something that is surely relatable to many people watching the show. Baker is caught between a rock and a hard place. She desperately wants to fit in with her teammates and play baseball, but she also is having to navigate a previously unwalked path, all the while attempting to hold on to her precarious situation as a recently called-up pitcher who could be sent down from the majors at any moment.The struggle around identity, however, is not just limited to Baker. Her story is just the most prominent.In an interesting scene, Padres owner Frank Reid (Bob Balaban) discusses manager Als fate with Oscar Arguella (Mark Consuelos), the GM. Reid comments to Arguella that in addition to his getting hired because hes good at his job, he also looks like Spanish Superman.Im Mexican, Arguella responds.A few moments later when Reid tells Arguella he doesnt have him over for dinner because he doesnt get close to his employees, Arguella says, I thought it was because Im Mexican.This is interesting, not only because Reid admits to not being color-blind and implies that he values a perspective of someone who is not a mirror reflection of himself, but also because Arguella has clearly questioned why he hasnt been invited to his boss place for dinner. His own ethnicity is clearly salient to him, and his admission leaves viewers wondering what happened in his life to make him take pause at Reids distance.This is an important and palpable moment at a time when American society struggles with wanting to be color-blind and how to deal with racial and ethnic diversity. This is not unlike the sentiment Ginny is navigating in trying to decide whether her gender matters. Of course it matters, and so does race.What doesnt matter is how much we try to mute pieces of ourselves. They shine through anyway.Its the response that counts. ' ' '