Nico Hoerner had two hits and three RBIs, Willson Contreras had four hits and one RBI, and Ian Happ drove in two runs as the host Chicago Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-5 on Thursday night.

Cameron Maybin and Anthony Rizzo each had two hits and an RBI, and Kris Bryant added a pair of hits as Chicago won for the third time in four games.

Jeremy Jeffress worked a scoreless ninth for his seventh save in eight opportunities.

The Cubs (26-19) extended their lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central to three games. The fourth-place Reds fell to 19-25 with their third loss in four games.

Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead after just seven pitches, as Nick Castellanos tripled on a line drive to left field to score Joey Votto, who opened the game with a single. Castellanos scored on a Jesse Winker sacrifice fly one better later.

The Reds made it 3-0 in the second on Brian Goodwin's RBI double to right field.

Chicago responded in the fourth, sending nine men to the plate en route to five-run outburst. The Cubs took advantage of two walks by Reds starter Sonny Gray, setting up Hoerner, who lined a two-run double and then scored on Happ's two-run single one batter later.

After reliever Michael Lorenzen walked the first hitter he faced, Rizzo closed the rally with a run-scoring groundout.

The Cubs stretched their lead to 7-3 with two runs in the fifth, getting an RBI triple from Maybin and an RBI groundout from Hoerner.

Cincinnati drew to within 7-5 in the eighth behind run-scoring singles from Shogo Akiyama and Tyler Stephenson and brought the tying run to the plate with one out, but reliever Dan Winkler escaped further trouble.

Gray fell to 5-3 after allowing five runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings, with three walks and four strikeouts.

Cubs starter Adbert Alzolay surrendered three runs on three hits in 3 2/3 innings with two walks and two strikeouts. Kyle Ryan (1-0) was the winner, allowing one hit in two-thirds of an inning.

Reds second baseman Mike Moustakas left the game with a left foot contusion in the bottom of the fifth inning after being hit by a pitch in the fourth inning. Castellanos had two hits for Cincinnati.

The start of the game was delayed by rain for 75 minutes.

--Field Level Media