Carson Kelly hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth and a walk-off RBI single in the 10th to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 7-6 win against the visiting Atlanta Braves in the opener of their three-game series on Monday afternoon.
Kelly pulled the first pitch he saw from John Brebbia (1-1) into the left field corner, scoring Seiya Suzuki from third for the game-winner.
Ian Happ had three hits, including a solo home run, and scored twice, Dansby Swanson drove in two runs and Matt Shaw had two hits and an RBI for Chicago, which trailed by five runs heading to the fifth.
Cubs starter Colin Rea allowed three runs and five hits in four innings, striking out three and walking three.
Andrew Kittredge (4-3) pitched a scoreless 10th to earn the win.
Michael Harris II drove in four runs, Drake Baldwin had two hits and scored twice, Ozzie Albies had two hits, an RBI and run scored and Nacho Alvarez Jr. had two hits and an RBI for Atlanta, which has lost four of five.
Braves right-hander Spencer Strider allowed three runs and five hits over five-plus innings. He struck out one and walked three.
Shaw began the comeback when he delivered an RBI double in the fifth to cut it to 6-2.
Chicago tacked on two more in the sixth on a two-run double to left-center by Swanson to make it 6-4.
Pierce Johnson came in to pitch the eighth for Atlanta and he gave up a leadoff single to Happ before Kelly came up with one out and pulled a full-count curveball over the fence in left to tie it 6-6.
Albies singled down the first-base line with two outs in the first to score Matt Olson and give the Braves a 1-0 lead.
Atlanta loaded the bases with one out in the third on a walk, hit batter and single to right. The Cubs got the second out on a force at home, but center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and right fielder Kyle Tucker miscommunicated on a Harris fly ball that fell for a two-run single, extending the lead to 3-0.
Happ lifted a 2-2 curveball over the fence in right for a solo home run in the fourth — cutting the lead to 3-1 — but the Braves came back with a three-run fifth. Taylor Rogers got the first two batters out, but Baldwin singled and Albies doubled to put runners on second and third. Harris then doubled off the wall in right, scoring both runners for a 5-1 lead.
Alvarez followed with another double off the wall in right to score Harris and make it 6-1.
–Field Level Media
