CHICAGO — Carson Kelly homered twice, Kyle Tucker hit a go-ahead two-run homer in a six-run eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs outslugged the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-11 on Friday.
Ian Happ hit a grand slam. Seiya Suzuki went deep and the Cubs pulled out a wild win in which the two teams combined for 21 runs in the seventh and eighth innings. The Cubs scored 11 runs in that stretch, while the D-backs scored 10.
It was the first nine-inning game in MLB history in which both teams scored 10 or more runs from the seventh inning on, and the third game overall, according to ESPN Research.
“If you’ve seen that one, you’ve been around for a while,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said with a laugh. “It was crazy. You know, we gave up 10 runs in an inning and we won. So it was a wild game, but we kept going, and, you know, there’s 27 outs in a game and this kind of proves it, and you’re just happy to get out with a win.”
Chicago was sailing along with a 7-1 lead thanks to Kelly’s two-run drive against Diamondbacks starter Corbin Burnes in the second and Happ’s grand slam off Ryne Nelson in a five-run seventh. But just when it looked as if the Cubs were on their way to a lopsided win, things took a wild turn.
Eugenio Suárez cut it to 7-5 in the eighth with a grand slam against Porter Hodge. Randal Grichuk gave Arizona an 8-7 lead when his chopper scooted under third baseman Gage Workman’s glove for a two-run double. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. added a three-run drive, making it 11-7, but the Cubs answered in a big way in the bottom half.
Bryce Jarvis hit Nico Hoerner leading off and walked Pete Crow-Armstrong before Kelly drove a three-run homer to center. After Happ singled with one out, Tucker and Suzuki hit back-to-back drives against Joe Mantiply to give the Cubs a 13-11 lead.
“We didn’t pitch well in the eighth, we didn’t play good defense in the eighth. I can’t blame the weather, frankly,” Counsell said. “It was a lot of hard-hit baseballs, and they did a nice job and we couldn’t stop the damage. But we come out and we get our leadoff hitter on, and their bullpen was a little bit tacked from the last couple of days in Florida, too, and we ended up putting together an unbelievable inning.”
Ryan Pressly (2-1) recorded the final three outs, and the Cubs opened the weekend series on a winning note. Arizona, which had won five straight, became just the third team over the past 50 seasons to lose a game in which it had a 10-run inning at any point, according to ESPN Research.
Chicago’s Colin Rea went a season-high 4⅔ innings, allowing one run and five hits. The 34-year-year-old right-hander struck out five and walked none in his second start and fifth appearance. The Cubs moved him to the rotation following ace Justin Steele’s season-ending elbow injury.
Burnes allowed two runs and six hits over six innings. The 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner struck out three and did not walk a batter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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