Joc Pederson and Sergio Alcantara hit solo homers Wednesday afternoon as the visiting Chicago Cubs defeated the San Diego Padres 3-1 in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Chicago’s Ian Happ scored the tie-breaking run from third on a seventh-inning, double-play grounder.
Cubs starter Jake Arrieta held the Padres to one run on four hits, and relievers Rex Brothers, Ryan Tepera and Craig Kimbrel combined to retire all 12 Padres they faced.
Brothers (2-0) struck out two in the sixth to earn the win. Tepera had three strikeouts in two perfect innings. And Kimbrel picked up his 15th save on three outfield flies in the ninth. Arrieta and the three relievers combined to retire the last 15 Padres they faced and 20 of the last 21.
The Cubs finished the season series with five wins in six games against the Padres.
Padres starter — and former Cub — Yu Darvish (6-2) took the loss, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks, with eight strikeouts over seven innings. Wednesday marked only the second time in 13 games that the Padres lost when Darvish started.
San Diego took a 1-0 lead in the third when Tommy Pham singled off Arrieta with one out, stole second and scored on Manny Machado’s single.
Darvish had retired the first nine hitters he faced when Pederson opened the fourth inning with his seventh homer — a drive to center.
The score was still tied 1-1 and Darvish had faced only one hitter over the minimum when he walked Happ to open the seventh. Patrick Wisdom followed with a bloop single down the line in right to put Cubs at the corners with no one out. Happ scored when Anthony Rizzo hit a grounder to Jake Cronenworth that the second baseman turned into a double play.
Alcantara gave the Cubs an insurance run in the eighth with his first homer of the season — a one-out drive into the right field seats off Emilio Pagan.
–Field Level Media