Jason Heyward, Addison Russell and Albert Almora Jr. each hit home runs, and the Chicago Cubs outlasted the visiting Cincinnati Reds for an 8-6 win Saturday afternoon.

Anthony Rizzo also drove in a pair of runs for Chicago, which evened the series at one game apiece heading into Sunday's finale. The Cubs improved to 18-9 at Wrigley Field.

Tucker Barnhart, Derek Dietrich and Yasiel Puig each homered for Cincinnati.

The score was tied at 6 in the eighth when David Bote delivered a go-ahead double to deep center field with Almora at second base and Russell at first. Almora scored, and Kyle Schwarber followed with a sacrifice fly to send Russell home and increase the advantage to 8-6 entering the ninth.

Cincinnati jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second. Dietrich drew a leadoff walk before Barnhart drilled a two-run shot for his fifth homer of the season and his second in the past three games. Schwarber gave chase in left field but had to watch as the ball landed in the basket atop the ivy-covered wall.

Chicago pulled within 2-1 in the bottom of the second on a solo shot to right field by Almora. The blast marked his sixth homer.

The Cubs seized a 5-2 lead during a four-run fourth. Russell started the outburst with an opposite-field, two-run homer.

After a pair of singles by Schwarber and Kris Bryant, Rizzo doubled off the base of the right-field wall to drive in two more runs. The hit gave Rizzo a team-leading 40 RBIs in 46 games.

The Reds cut the deficit to 5-4 in the fifth, thanks to an RBI single by Eugenio Suarez and a monster home run by Puig that exited the stadium and landed on Waveland Avenue. It was Puig's ninth homer with Cincinnati.

Heyward led off the bottom of the fifth with a homer, his seventh, to push the Cubs' lead to 6-4.

In the sixth, Senzel drove in another run with a single to pull within 6-5.

The Reds evened the score at 6 in the eighth on a 424-foot homer to center field by Dietrich.

Cubs right-hander Dillon Maples (1-0) earned the victory in relief.

Reds right-hander Jared Hughes (2-2) took the loss.

--Field Level Media