The Chicago Cubs were down late against the Washington Nationals on Thursday, but Willson Contreras and David Bote played the role of hero as the team won a 6-4 decision at Nationals Park.
Contreras had an RBI fielder’s choice in the eighth inning to tie up the contest at 4-4, and Bote had an RBI single in the 10th inning to give the Cubs the lead as they trimmed their magic number in the National League Central to 18.
Pedro Strop secured the win for the Cubs and Jesse Chavez notched the save by pitching a scoreless 10th inning. Kyle Hendricks gave up four runs, only one of which was earned, in five innings of work.
The Cubs took the lead in the third inning as they touched up Stephen Strasburg for a pair of runs. Anthony Rizzo laced a double to right-center field, and then Ben Zobrist singled to right to give the Cubs a 2-0 edge.
The Nationals quickly stole the lead back in the fourth inning, as Mark Reynolds hammered a home run to left field to make it a 3-2 game. After the Cubs tied things up in the fifth, the Nationals took the lead again in the bottom of the frame as Trea Turner notched an RBI single to make it a 4-3 game.
In the eighth inning, the Cubs had runners on second and third with no outs when Contreras hit the ball to Turner at shortstop. The throw ultimately went behind Albert Almora to get him off of second base, but Kris Bryant was able to score, tying the game at 4-4.
In the 10th, the Cubs took the lead as Bote smoked a double to right-center field, and then extended it when Taylor Davis singled to score Bote and make it 6-4.
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From there, Chavez took care of the rest, striking out two batters and securing the save for the Cubs.
The Cubs, who now lead the National League Central by four and a half games, will take on the Nationals again Friday night, with Jon Lester taking the hill.
