Dansby Swanson hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning to give the Chicago Cubs a 7-5 win against the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Saturday night.
After Nico Hoerner drew a one-out walk, Swanson drilled a two-run shot off reliever Lucas Sims (1-2) to left-center field.
Seiya Suzuki went 2-for-4 with a grand slam and reliever Mark Leiter Jr. (2-3) tossed a scoreless eighth for the win. Hector Neris struck out a pair in the ninth for his seventh save.
The game didn’t start until 9:35 p.m. local time after rain delayed the first pitch for three hours and 20 minutes.
Cincinnati tied it 5-5 in the fourth. After Luke Maile hit a leadoff single, Stuart Fairchild drew a walk. Fairchild went to third on an Elly De La Cruz forceout when Chicago third baseman Christopher Morel’s throw toward second went into the outfield after he stepped on third to retire Maile. Jeimer Candelario followed with an RBI single to center.
In the third, Reds starter Hunter Greene hit Morel and Ian Happ to give the hosts two on with nobody out. Hoerner followed with a single to left field, scoring Morel.
Suzuki, whose miscue in the top of the second allowed Cincinnati to open the scoring, made up for it in the bottom half. Hoerner and Swanson each walked to start the inning and then Miguel Amaya drew a one-out walk. After a strikeout, Suzuki stepped up to the plate and on a full count smashed a grand slam to left field to tie the game 4-4.
In the top of the inning, Tyler Stephenson knocked a one-out single to right field, Jonathan India drew a walk and TJ Friedl was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After Santiago Espinal popped out, Maile connected for a fly ball to right that appeared to be a routine catch for Suzuki, but the ball grazed the bottom of his glove and dropped, allowing Stephenson, India and Friedl to cross the plate.
Then, with Maile on second, Fairchild sent a sharp line-drive single to left field to give the Reds a 4-0 lead.
–Field Level Media
