Nick Madrigal singled three times and drove in a run, and starter Drew Smyly tossed five shutout innings to lead the Chicago Cubs past the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 in the second annual Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa.
Smyly (5-6) struck out a season-high nine batters in working out of jams in the first three innings. Rowan Wick pitched the ninth inning for his seventh save in nine chances.
In keeping with the theme of nostalgia next to the site of the 1989 namesake movie, the Reds wore 1919 throwback uniforms, reflective of the era when the Reds beat the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. That Series that triggered the “Black Sox” scandal and tarnished the name of Shoeless Joe Jackson, played by the late actor Ray Liotta in the movie.
The Cubs, wearing early 1900s throwback outfits, rallied with two outs and nobody on in the first inning against Cincinnati starter and loser Nick Lodolo (3-4), who walked four and allowed all four runs over 4 2/3 innings.
The three-run uprising started when Lodolo hit Patrick Wisdom on the back foot with a breaking ball. Seiya Suzuki doubled to left-center to score Wisdom for a 1-0 lead. Nico Hoerner then singled home Suzuki and Ian Happ doubled to score Hoerner to cap the three-run first inning.
Willson Contreras turned his left ankle while rounding second base in the third inning on a Wisdom single. He fell immediately to the ground and was tagged out for the first out of the inning. Contreras remained in the game.
Madrigal singled home Nelson Velazquez in the fourth inning to make it 4-0.
In suffering a fourth straight loss, the Reds again had trouble generating offense. They had their chances, with runners on first and second in each of the first three innings.
The Reds finally broke through in the seventh when Matt Reynolds doubled home Jose Barrero and Jake Fraley with none out off reliever Michael Rucker. Brandon Hughes came on to put out the fire when he retired the next three batters, including a strikeout of Joey Votto to end the inning.
Reds second baseman Jonathan India continues to battle bad injury luck. After missing most of the first two months with an injured right hamstring and reaggravating that injury on Monday, India was drilled with a Smyly fastball on the left leg below the knee in the first inning.
India left the game after striking out to end the third inning.
–Field Level Media