David Bote homered in his first game in nearly two months, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo connected on back-to-back home runs in the first inning and Trevor Williams pitched 6 1/3 shutout frames to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 5-1 victory against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon.
Chicago improved to 5-5 since the All-Star break, a run that includes victories in four of six meetings with Arizona. The Diamondbacks became the first club in the major leagues to reach 70 losses this season.
The Cubs seized an early lead against Arizona starter Caleb Smith, as Bryant followed a leadoff walk to Willson Contreras with a two-run shot to center field.
Rizzo drilled a round-tripper to right one batter later to put Chicago ahead 3-0.
Smith (3-7) retired the next 10 batters, but another walk to snap that streak proved costly. Two batters after issuing a free pass to Patrick Wisdom, the left-hander surrendered a two-run blast to Bote, who was activated from the injured list before the game after missing the past 48 games with a dislocated left shoulder. Sunday marked Bote’s first contest since May 29.
Williams underwent an appendectomy one day after that (May 30) and was making his third appearance and second start since returning this month. Williams logged a season high in innings while scattering five hits and six strikeouts to improve to 4-2.
Pavin Smith, who had two hits, and Bryan Holaday doubled against Williams for Arizona’s only extra-base hits of the afternoon. Andrew Young’s RBI single with two outs in the ninth helped the Diamondbacks avoid a shutout.
Craig Kimbrel induced the lone batter he faced, Pavin Smith, to fly out to right to end the game and earn his 23rd save.
Arizona loaded the bases with one out in the eighth but was unable to score. The Diamondbacks went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position while stranding 10.
Caleb Smith allowed five runs on three hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.
Rizzo had two hits for the Cubs.
–Field Level Media