CHICAGO — Paul Goldschmidt snapped a tie in the ninth inning with his third long homer of the game, and the Arizona Diamondbacks pulled out a rain-delayed 10-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.
Goldschmidt hit a 3-2 pitch from Wade Davis (2-1) deep into the right-centre bleachers with one out. J.D. Martinez followed Davis with another solo blast off the Cubs closer.
Goldschmidt’s first career three-homer game gave him 25 for the season, and his six RBIs matched a career high.
Brandon Drury also homered for Arizona, which remained percentage points ahead of Colorado for the top NL wild card.
Willson Contreras hit two home runs and had a career high six RBIs for Chicago, which lost consecutive games for the first time since the All-Star break. The Cubs’ NL Central lead over Milwaukee slipped to 1 1/2 games.
Jake Barrett (1-0), Arizona’s fifth reliever, got two outs in the eighth for the win. Fernando Rodney worked around two walks in the ninth to earn his 24th save in 29 chances.
Jake Lamb singled in two runs in the eighth to put Arizona back ahead 8-7 after blowing a five-run lead. Chicago’s John Jay tied game at 8 in the bottom of the inning when he bounced into fielder’s choice at second base with the bases loaded and Jason Heyward scored.
Jose Quintana was hit hard in his fourth start with the Cubs, allowing up six runs. The lefty had not permitted more than three runs in three starts since moving across town in a July 13 trade with the White Sox.
Arizona starter Zack Greinke allowed a season-high six runs in six-plus innings.
Goldschmidt’s first homer was a three-run shot to the top of the left-centre bleachers in the first. His two-run shot in the fifth rocketed down the left field line and bounced high on Waveland Avenue to make it 6-1.
Contreras’ second homer, a three-run drive in the sixth, got the Cubs within 6-5.
The game started 90 minutes late because of storms and then was interrupted for 35 minutes in the second and 30 in the ninth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: LHP Robbie Ray (concussion) was set to see a specialist in Phoenix on Thursday. He was hit in the head by a line drive last week. Ray was scheduled to start on Friday at San Francisco. . SS Chris Owings had successful surgery on his right middle finger this week and GM Mike Hazen hopes Owings will return in six to eight weeks. . RHP Randall Delgado (right elbow) threw from 75 feet Wednesday and will resume his rehab protocol on Friday. . OF Yasmany Tomas (right groin tendinitis) is "trending in a positive direction" and has been hitting and throwing, manager Torey Lovullo said.
Cubs: Javier Baez was back in the lineup at shortstop. He appeared to favour his left leg coming out of the box on a groundout in the fifth inning on Tuesday, but stayed in the game. He sat out Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: LHP Anthony Banda (0-1, 6.35 ERA) will start on Friday at San Francisco. Lefty Madison Bumgarner (1-4, 2.92) pitches for the Giants in his fifth start since returning from the DL on July 15. Against the Dodgers last Sunday, Bumgarner tossed seven scoreless innings and struck out seven in a no-decision.
Cubs: RHP Kyle Hendricks (4-3, 3.80) makes his third start since being activated from the DL on July 24 and faces Washington RHP Tanner Roark (8-7, 4.93) in an afternoon game. Hendricks allowed one earned run in five innings in a no-decision last Saturday at Milwaukee.
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