After being roughed up by the Cubs this season, the Reds got some revenge on Tuesday. Zack Cozart and Jay Bruce each hit two-run homers and Joey Votto drove in two runs to back lefty Brandon Finnegan, who served up four home runs but held on for a 9-5 Cincinnati victory at Wrigley Field.
Cubs starter John Lackey had trouble finding the strike zone in the first inning, walking three of the first four batters he faced, and the Reds took advantage — including a wild play by Billy Hamilton, who walked, stole second and scored on a passed ball by catcher David Ross. Cozart’s home run in the second made it 4-0.
“John could never get into a rhythm today,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “Everything was off a bit.”
The Cubs closed to 5-4 with three home runs in the third off Finnegan, including Kris Bryant’s National League-leading 25th blast of the year. Addison Russell hit two homers to drive in three runs for the second straight game. Finnegan allowed five earned runs on five hits with four walks over five innings.
“Today for Finny was bend, don’t break,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “He gave up five runs but he didn’t relinquish the lead. He gave us a chance to get to the bullpen. He could have conceded that easy by kind of falling apart, and he didn’t.”
Important for the Reds were the four scoreless innings of relief that followed Finnegan. Raisel Iglesias delivered zeros for three of those frames with two hits before Tony Cingrani worked the ninth in a non-save situation.
“It was very important for me because they’re a really aggressive team,” Iglesias said via translator Julio Morillo. “They’ve been hitting really good. I was just trying to hold them in order to help my team to win the game.”
Despite the loss, the Cubs lead the season series, 10-2, have outscored the Reds, 102-45, and have clubbed 31 home runs off Cincinnati pitchers this season. The 31 homers are the most by an opponent since the 2005 Cubs belted 32 against the Reds.
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