Left-hander Drew Smyly combined with Mark Leiter Jr. on a five-hitter, P.J. Higgins homered and the Chicago Cubs made it two straight home wins over the Miami Marlins with a 4-0 victory Saturday afternoon.
Nico Hoerner went 3-for-4 to pace a 10-hit attack for the Cubs, who had lost five in a row before the Marlins came to town.
Bouncing back from a four-inning, five-run debacle in San Francisco earlier in the week, Smyly (4-6) participated in his first combined shutout since a 1-0 triumph over the Marlins in July 2021.
He allowed five hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking one.
Leiter worked the final 2 1/3 innings, retiring all seven batters he faced.
The Marlins nearly ended the shutout bid early when Peyton Burdick, Jesus Aguilar and Bryan De La Cruz all singled in the third inning. But Miguel Rojas, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice, was gunned down at home plate by right fielder Seiya Suzuki while trying to score on De La Cruz’s two-out hit.
Burdick’s single to left field was his first major league hit in his fifth big-league plate appearance. He had struck out three times and walked once in his previous four trips to the plate.
Hoerner got the Cubs on the board in the fourth against Miami starter Pablo Lopez (7-7) with an RBI single that scored Ian Happ, who had doubled.
Chicago added two in the fifth on an RBI single by Willson Contreras and a double play grounder off the bat of Suzuki.
Higgins’ homer completed the scoring in the sixth, a solo shot that ended Lopez’s day. The homer was his fifth of the season.
Lopez was charged with four runs on nine hits in five-plus innings. He walked two and struck out six in losing for the fourth time this season in a game in which his team did not score.
Higgins and Happ added two hits apiece for the Cubs, who are meeting the Marlins for the first time this season.
De La Cruz collected two of the five hits in Miami’s seventh loss in its last eight games.
–Field Level Media