Seiya Suzuki snapped a tie in the seventh inning with a solo home run and the host Chicago Cubs won their sixth straight game, 2-1, over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday afternoon.
Nelson Velazquez had an RBI triple and Adbert Alzolay had four strikeouts during three perfect innings of relief for Chicago (72-86) and which won for the 10th time in its last 11 games.
Wade Miley (2-2), making his first appearance since Sept. 24 when he tweaked his left oblique in a start, picked up the win with two hitless innings of relief. It was just the just the seventh relief appearance in Miley’s 12-year career. Brandon Hughes struck out pinch-hitter Alejo Lopez on three pitches to get the final out of the game and record his eighth save.
Kyle Farmer went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Spencer Steer doubled and scored a run for Cincinnati (60-98) which lost its fifth straight game and for the eighth time in the last nine contests.
Derek Law (2-3) suffered the loss, allowing one run on one hit over 1 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out two.
Chicago took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when David Bote drew a two-out walk, one of a career-high five walks by Cincinnati starter Nick Lodolo, and then scored on Velazquez’s triple to right-center.
Cincinnati tied it 1-1 in the third when Steer hit a two-out double to left field and then scored on a single to right by Farmer.
The Cubs then took a 2-1 lead in the seventh on Suzuki’s 14th home run of the season, a 382-foot drive into the bleachers in left-center.
Chicago pitchers retired 14 straight batters until Austin Romine reached safely in eighth when Ian Happ, battling the sun, dropped his fly ball to left for an error. But Miley bounced back to get Jonathan India to fly out to the track in center and Steer ground out to end the inning.
–Field Level Media