Following two games where they took early leads before seeing the Reds tighten matters, the Cubs scored first and never looked back on Wednesday at Great American Ball Park. Three home runs, including an inside-the-park homer by Anthony Rizzo, and plenty of add-on runs kept them trucking for a 9-2 victory over the Reds and a three-game series sweep.
Rizzo made it 3-0 three batters into the game against rookie lefty Cody Reed when his drive to left-center field had Billy Hamilton and Adam Duvall converging. The ball skipped off of Duvall’s glove into Hamilton’s face and put the center fielder down, forcing him from the game. It was ruled a hit by the official scorer.
Chicago made it 5-0 in the third inning when Willson Contreras hit a two-out RBI double, followed by Javier Baez’s RBI single. Solo homers in the fourth by Addison Russell and Albert Almora Jr. — the first of his career — stretched the lead to seven runs.
“He’s making some flat fastball mistakes over the plate and throwing a lot of fastballs in fastball counts,” Reds manager Bryan Price said of Reed. “These guys are putting them on the barrel right now. He’ll make his adjustments.”
That made for a smooth afternoon for Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks, who gave up two earned runs, eight hits and two walks with five strikeouts. A two-run fourth inning got Cincinnati on the scoreboard with a leadoff homer from Duvall and pinch-hitter Zack Cozart’s RBI groundout that scored Eugenio Suarez. The Reds have lost seven of their last eight games.
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