On another sizzling day at Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs continued to wield hot bats as they beat the San Diego Padres on Saturday afternoon.
The win is the Cubs’ seventh in their last eight games out of the All-Star break, all of which have been played at Wrigley Field. Javier Báez blasted his 24th home run of the season, driving in three runs, and Anthony Rizzo drove in a pair of runs to help the Cubs to the victory.
Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Hunter Renfroe all launched home runs of their own for the Padres, but it wasn’t enough as the Friars fell for the second straight day.
José Quintana gave up five runs and struck out seven batters in five innings of work, and the Cubs’ bullpen was able to work four scoreless innings of relief in securing the victory.
The Cubs got on the board early in the game with a pair of first inning runs. Rizzo notched an RBI groundout to open the scoring, and Robel García tripled off the wall in right field to score Kris Bryant and give the Cubs a 2-0 edge.
The Padres took the lead back in the third inning as Tatis unloaded on a 468-foot home run to center field, and Machado homered to right field as the Padres seized a 3-2 edge.
The Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the third as Rizzo picked up an RBI infield single, but the Padres answered back in the fourth as Tatis lofted a sacrifice fly to center field, putting San Diego ahead by a run.
Chicago Baseball
Báez teed off on a deep home run of his own in the bottom of the fourth to put the Cubs ahead by a 6-4 margin.
The Cubs will go for the sweep Sunday afternoon at the Friendly Confines, sending Kyle Hendricks to the mound. First pitch is slated for 1:20 p.m.
