Elly De La Cruz went 2-for-3 with a home run, a stolen base and four RBIs to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-4 victory over the visiting Chicago Cubs on Saturday afternoon.
TJ Friedl also had two hits and Santiago Espinal scored twice for Cincinnati, which snapped a three-game losing streak.
Andrew Abbott (4-0) picked up the win as he allowed one run on six hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two. Despite allowing a homer to Carson Kelly to begin the ninth, Emilio Pagan bounced back to notch his 13th save.
Justin Turner added a solo homer and Matt Shaw had three hits — including a pair of doubles — for Chicago, which had its three-game winning streak come to an end.
Cubs starter Colin Rea (3-1) surrendered six runs on seven hits over five innings. He struck out eight and walked three, both season-highs, while throwing a season-high 108 pitches.
Cincinnati jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on De La Cruz’s ninth home run of the season, a 387-foot line drive into the right-field bleachers.
Chicago cut the lead to 2-1 in the third inning when Turner led off with his first home run as a Cub, a 406-foot drive to left-center.
The Reds extended the lead to 3-1 in the fourth inning when Gavin Lux led off with an opposite-field double down the left-field line, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Will Benson’s sacrifice fly to the wall in center.
Cincinnati added three more runs in the sixth inning. De La Cruz stroked a two-run single, stole second and scored on a single by Spencer Steer.
The Cubs cut the lead to 6-2 in the seventh when Kelly led off with a single, advanced to third on a Shaw double and scored on Ian Happ’s groundout. They got another run closer in the eighth when Seiya Suzuki led off with a double to left-center, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Kelly made it 6-4 in the ninth when he cracked his ninth homer of the season off the foul pole in left. One out later, Shaw lined a double to left to bring the tying run to the plate. Pagan bounced back to strike out Happ and get Kyle Tucker to fly to right to end the game.
–Field Level Media
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