In a wild game that saw a grand slam, 19 total runs scored and a no-hitter carried into the fifth inning, the Cincinnati Reds came out on top in a 12-7 contest over the Chicago Cubs.
Former Cubs slugger Nicholas Castellanos, now with the Reds, smacked a grand slam in the contest, his second home run in the series against his former team. Mike Moustakas also hit a home run in the game, as did Nick Senzel as the Reds took down their first victory of the four-game set.
Sonny Gray had a strong night for the home squad, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning. In 6.2 innings of work, he gave up just one hit and two runs, neither of which were earned, and struck out 11 batters on 92 pitches.
Kyle Hendricks didn’t have quite the same good fortune, as he gave up six earned runs in 4.1 innings, just one start after tossing an Opening Day shutout against the Milwaukee Brewers. Rex Brothers gave up three earned runs and Dillon Maples gave up two while walking four batters, with the latter hurler failing to record a single out in his appearance.
Even with the Cubs’ pitching struggles, they still were able to keep the Reds off the board until the fourth inning when Moustakas launched a home run to right field, giving Cincinnati a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth Eugenio Suarez smacked an RBI single to center field to score a pair of runs, and Castellanos delivered the big blow in the game with a grand slam to left field, putting the Reds in front by an 8-0 margin.
Even after Senzel homered to make it 9-0, the Cubs didn’t give up. In the seventh inning, the Cubs finally got Gray out of the game and took full advantage, as Victor Caratini notched an RBI hit-by-pitch to get Chicago on the board. Nico Hoerner continued his recent strong play with an RBI single to center field to score a pair, and Kris Bryant got his first RBI’s of the season when he smacked a double to left field, scoring Hoerner and Caratini and making it a 9-5 game.
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Unfortunately for the Cubs they weren’t able to close the gap further after Steven Souza Jr. popped out to end the rally.
The Reds added three more runs in the seventh inning to make it a seven-run game, but the Cubs once again tried to claw back in the ninth when David Bote hammered a home run onto the batter’s eye in center field.
That was all the Cubs could manage however as their record fell to 4-2 on the young season.
The Cubs will wrap up their four-game set on Thursday when they send Yu Darvish to the mound against Luis Castillo. After that the Cubs will head home for a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field. Thursday’s game will start at 5:10 p.m., and will air on Marquee Sports Network.
