Seiya Suzuki homered twice, tripled and drove in four runs, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 14-2 win over the host Miami Marlins on Saturday afternoon.
Rookie Shota Imanaga (10-3) earned the win, pitching seven innings and allowing four hits, two walks and two runs.
Both Suzuki and Imanaga are 30-year-olds from Japan.
Chicago also got three hits and two RBIs from Michael Busch, two hits and three RBIs from Pete Crow-Armstrong and three hits and two runs scored by Miguel Amaya.
The Cubs reached .500 for the first time since June 5, evening their record at 65-65. They will go for a three-game sweep of the Marlins on Sunday.
Miami, which has the worst record in the National League, got solo homers from Connor Norby and David Hensley, both acquired by the Marlins in late July. It was the first homer in a Marlins uniform for each player.
The Marlins are 0-5 on a homestand that will end Sunday.
Marlins rookie Valente Bellozo (2-2) took the loss, allowing seven hits, five walks and six runs (five earned) in 4 2/3 innings. His ERA jumped from 2.45 to 3.35.
Bellozo trailed 3-0 after three innings, with Suzuki hitting a solo homer in the first and a two-run shot in the third. That totaled 858 feet of homers; his third-inning dinger was the longest one at 446.
Norby hit a solo homer in the fourth, but Crow-Armstrong stretched the Cubs lead to 5-1 with his two-run shot in the fifth.
The Cubs tacked on two more runs in the fifth as reliever John McMillon committed a key throwing error.
Hensley’s solo homer in the bottom of the fifth cut Miami’s deficit to 7-2.
But the Cubs added three more runs in the seventh as Busch and Cody Bellinger had RBI doubles and Suzuki had a run-scoring triple in between.
In the eighth, Crow-Armstrong pounded an RBI double and Busch drew a bases-loaded walk.
The Cubs capped their scoring in the ninth on Patrick Wisdom’s homer off infielder/outfielder Vidal Brujan, who made his MLB pitching debut.
–Field Level Media
