The last-place Cincinnati Reds slammed the Chicago Cubs ¨C
again.
Anthony DeSclafani hit the first grand slam by a Cincinnati pitcher in 59
years C.J.
Uzomah Jersey , helping the Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 11-2 on Saturday
for their sixth consecutive victory.
It was Cincinnati¡¯s third slam in five days and major league-leading seventh
of the season, two short of the record set in 2002. Jesse Winker hit one in the
series opener against Chicago on Thursday night.
The last Reds pitcher to hit a grand slam was Bob Purkey against the Cubs on
Aug. 1, 1959.
Tucker Barnhart and Joey Votto also went deep in front of a crowd of 36,818,
Cincinnati¡¯s largest since opening day. Votto hit a three-run shot off backup
catcher Chris Gimenez in the eighth.
¡±We¡¯re playing clean baseball,¡± interim manager Jim Riggleman said. ¡±We¡¯ve
strung some good ballgames together.¡±
The Reds matched their longest win streak of the season and won a third
straight game against the Cubs for the first time since winning five in a row in
2014.
¡±They definitely have played much better,¡± Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.
¡±They deserved all three. Our pitching was in disarray, and they took advantage
of it.¡±
Willson Contreras and Ben Zobrist homered for Chicago, which has lost three
straight games for the first time since a five-game slide from May 1 through May
6. Zobrist and Ian Happ each had two of the Cubs¡¯ six hits.
Contreras¡¯ fifth homer trimmed Cincinnati¡¯s lead to 2-1 in the second, but
the Reds responded with six in the third.
Votto sparked the rally with a two-out walk against Luke Farrell (2-3). Brian
Duensing then came in and yielded run-scoring hits to Scooter Gennett and
Eugenio Suarez with his first two pitches.
A walk to Winker and Adam Duvall¡¯s infield single loaded the bases for
DeSclafani, who drove a 3-2 pitch from Duensing into the seats in left for his
first career homer.
¡±I got to a full count there,¡± DeSclafani said. ¡±I knew a fastball was
coming, so I just tried to square it up and it happened to go out. At first, I
didn¡¯t think it was a home run. but I saw the left fielder kind of give up on
it. Then I saw the ball get into the stands. It was awesome. Everything in that
at-bat happened so quick, from when I swung and hit the ball until I started
shaking hands in the dugout.¡±
DeSclafani (3-1) also pitched a season-high 6 1/3 innings in his fourth start
after beginning the year on the disabled list with a left oblique strain. He
allowed three hits, struck out three and walked four.
Farrell, a former Red and the son of ex-Red Sox manager and current Reds
scout John Farrell, yielded Barnhart¡¯s two-run homer in the first. He was
charged with three runs and two hits in his second career start.
¡±I made one big mistake to Barnhart,¡± Farrell said. ¡±They¡¯re an aggressive
team. I got too aggressive with a fastball.¡±
GOOD SAMARITAN
Cubs left fielder Kyle Schwarber, who grew up in nearby
Middletown Vincent
Rey Jersey , took an autographed bat to a fan who was injured by one of
his foul balls. The fan walked out with help wearing a white bandage around his
head.
RED HOT
Cincinnati third baseman Eugenio Suarez had three hits, extending his
career-high hitting streak to 13 games. It¡¯s the longest streak by a Red this
season.
FOUR FOR FOUR
DeSclafani is the fourth Reds pitcher to hit a grand slam, joining Purkey, Al
Hollingsworth in 1936, also against the Cubs, and Icebox Chamberlain with an
inside-the-park homer in 1892.
ABOVE, BEYOND
Cubs third baseman Tommy La Stella crashed into the first row of seats down
the left-field line while catching Votto¡¯s first-inning popup.
TRAPPED
Contreras¡¯s homer survived a crew-chief replay review after video showed a
fan wearing a Cubs jersey trapped it with his glove against the top of the fence
before hauling it in.
FRUSTRATED
Chicago bench coach Brandon Hyde was ejected by plate umpire Greg Gibson in
the top of the fourth inning for complaining about ball-strike calls.
WHITE FLAG
Gimenez made his 10th career pitching appearance and first for the Cubs.
TRAINER¡¯S ROOM
Cubs: LHP Rob Zastryzny left in the sixth with what Maddon called left side
tightness.
Reds: INF Nick Senzel, Cincinnati¡¯s top pick and the second overall selection
in the 2016 draft, is scheduled to undergo season-ending surgery to repair a
torn tendon in his right index finger. He suffered the injury on Friday with
Triple-A Louisville.
UP NEXT
Cubs: If Tyler Chatwood¡¯s wife doesn¡¯t go into labor, the right-hander will
start Sunday¡¯s series finale.
Reds: RHP Sal Romano (4-7) gave up six hits and seven runs in a 10-0 loss to
Chicago on May 19.
The St. Louis Cardinals left Arizona feeling a little bit
better about themselves, thanks to a late-inning surge by the offense and
another strong outing from Miles Mikolas.
The Cardinals scored seven times in the seventh and eighth innings to beat
Arizona 8-4 on Wednesday night. After coming to town on a four-game losing
streak and off a three-game sweep at the hands of Atlanta, St. Louis took two of
three from the first-place Diamondbacks.
Yadier Molina¡¯s three-run homer on the first pitch from reliever Fernando
Salas highlighted a five-run Cardinals seventh inning after Arizona had nursed a
2-1 lead through six in front of a sellout crowd of 44,072.
¡±Had some big hits today,¡± St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. ¡±It allows
those big five-run innings to happen. Wear the pitcher down, wear the defense
down. Then you have Yadi come in and do something special on the back end.¡±
Tommy Pham drove in three Cardinals runs with a double and two singles. Matt
Carpenter doubled twice and singled with one RBI.
¡±Carp kind of set the tone. He got on base a lot,¡± Pham said. ¡±I think we had
good at-bats. Even when the results weren¡¯t there, we made guys throw pitches.
That¡¯s key. If a guy is taking four or five plus pitches to get outs, that means
you are grinding as a hitter. When you put that together as a team, it wears out
pitching staffs.¡±
The Diamondbacks dropped to 1-5 on their homestand and lead the surging Los
Angeles Dodgers by just a half-game in the NL West.
Mikolas (9-3) gave up two runs and seven hits, walked four and struck out
three.
Arizona reliever Yoshihisa Hirano (2-1) had his franchise-record streak of 26
games without allowing a run end when Yairo Munoz homered to lead off the
seventh. Hirano gave up four
runs Authentic
Albert Wilson Jersey , one earned, on three hits in two-thirds of an
inning for his first loss since coming to the major leagues from Japan this
season.
¡±Yoshi¡¯s human,¡± Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. ¡±That¡¯s what it
means, right? And he¡¯s absolutely spoiled us. He¡¯s been a slam-dunk reliever and
he made a really tough game look easy for a long time.¡±
After Munoz¡¯s homer, shortstop Ketel Marte booted pinch-hitter Tyler
O¡¯Neill¡¯s grounder for an error. With one out and O¡¯Neill on second, Pham
singled to center to put the Cardinals up 3-2. Center fielder Jarrod Dyson left
the game with discomfort in his right groin area, Lovullo said.
Salas relieved Hirano and gave up the big hit to Molina, who homered twice in
the series.
¡±It was like two totally different games,¡± Lovullo said. ¡±The first six
innings were exactly the way you¡¯d like to see guys go out and execute and do
their job, and then the final three innings unfortunately we couldn¡¯t execute in
a lot of key areas.¡±
HARD-LUCK LEFTY
Arizona starter Patrick Corbin allowed one run and six hits in six innings,
his third straight strong outing without a decision. He¡¯s given up two runs in
19 innings during those three starts.
TRAINER¡¯S ROOM
Cardinals: Paul DeJong (broken left hand) homered and doubled and played
shortstop all nine innings Tuesday night in his fourth rehab game for Triple-A
Memphis. Matheny said DeJong would not be activated Thursday in San Francisco
but could be at some time during the four-game series.
Diamondbacks: Right-handed reliever Randall Delgado (left oblique strain) was
scheduled to make another rehab appearance for Triple-A Reno and is expected to
be activated Thursday, the end of his rehab assignment. ¡ OF Steven Souza Jr.
(strained right pectoral) had Wednesday off in his rehab assignment with Reno
after homering twice for the Aces on Tuesday night. Souza has three homers in
his last two rehab games.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: Head to San Francisco for four games against the Giants. RHP Luke
Weaver (4-7, 5.16 ERA) starts for St. Louis in Thursday night¡¯s opener. Johnny
Cueto (3-0, 0.84) comes off the disabled list to pitch for the Giants.
Diamondbacks: RHP Shelby Miller (0-2, 11.42), following two rough starts in
his return from Tommy John surgery, takes the mound Thursday night in the opener
of a four-game home series against San Diego. LHP Eric Lauer (3-5, 5.08) goes
for the Padres.
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