Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) – Starlin Castro’s walk-off single lifted the
Chicago Cubs to a 7-6 win over the San Diego Padres in 11 innings on Saturday.
With the bases loaded against star closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1) and the defense
rearranged with five players in the infield, Castro ripped a single through
the left side to score Anthony Rizzo.
After a rough major league debut Friday, Kris Bryant reached base five times,
including an RBI single and an infield hit in the 11th.
Miguel Montero hit a pair of homers and drove in three runs.
The Cubs led 6-2 entering the ninth, but Phil Coke and Hector Rondon each
allowed two runs to send the game to extras. Zac Rosscup (1-0) pitched two
scoreless innings to keep the Padres off the board after the ninth.
“You never panic,” said Montero. That’s what a winning team does. … We never
stopped against a good team.”
Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks struck out eight and allowed two runs on three
hits in six innings with no walks.
Padres starter Tyson Ross allowed three runs on five hits and five walks in 5
2/3 innings with nine strikeouts.
Matt Kemp went deep for the first time as a Padre, and he joined Yonder Alonso
and Justin Upton with two hits apiece.
After the first inning, San Diego only had one hit until the ninth, and it was
off the bat of Ross. That changed when Alonso and Kemp singled off Coke to
start the final inning. Rondon was called on to protect the lead but was
unable to do so. Upton singled home Alonso, and Kemp scored on Will
Middlebrooks’ double.
The Cubs conceded a run to allow the Padres within 6-5, and Rondon was an out
away from ending the game when pinch-hitter Yangervis Solarte’s single scored
Middlebrooks to tie the game.
“We feel like until the game is over, we’re still in it, regardless of the
score,” said Padres manager Bud Black. “We strung some at-bats together, which
is what we needed to do.”
Each team had a runner reach scoring position in the 10th inning but could not
score.
San Diego summoned its closer to get the game to a 12th inning. Kimbrel got
Jorge Soler to ground out, but he walked Rizzo. Rizzo stole second and
moved up to third on Bryant’s infield single, and after David Ross walked on
four pitches, Castro ended the game on the first pitch he saw.
After his 0-for-4 debut, Bryant opened the second game of his career with
an error to allow Wil Myers to reach base. Myers was thrown out on Alonso’s
single when he tried taking an extra base, but Kemp followed
that with his first home run to give San Diego a quick 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the first, Bryant reached base for the first time in his
career with a walk, but Chris Coghlan stranded two when he lined out to end
the inning.
Ross was through four solid innings before getting into trouble in the
fifth. With two runners on base, Alonso whiffed fielding a ground ball
off the bat of Rizzo. Bryant then tied the game with his first
big league hit, an opposite-field single off a breaking ball down and away.
An inning later, Montero broke the 2-2 tie with a home run to the left-
center field gap. It would not be his last of the day. After Castro’s
two-out RBI single against Brandon Maurer in the seventh, Montero hit his
second homer, a deep drive into right field off Chris Rearick.
Game Notes
Chicago has not lost two in a row this season … Castro collected his 300th
career RBI with his 11th-inning single … This was the first two-steal game
of Rizzo’s career … Cubs manager Joe Maddon batted the pitcher eighth for
the 10th time this season. From 1914 to 2014, the Cubs played in 15,848 games,
and the pitcher batted ninth in all but one … Sunday’s rubber game will
feature San Diego’s Andrew Cashner and Chicago’s Jon Lester.
