Jake Fraley went 3-for-3 and Nick Lodolo was solid through six innings to help the Cincinnati Reds take the series against the host Chicago Cubs with a 5-1 win on Sunday.
Lodolo (5-2) gave up two runs on seven hits and struck out three in six innings. Alexis Diaz tossed a no-hit ninth for his 12th save.
Cubs starter Ben Brown (1-2) pitched five innings, allowing five runs on six hits and fanning six.
The Reds jumped out to a big lead in the second inning for the second straight game. Fraley led off with a double, Tyler Stephenson singled to center, and Jacob Hurtubise was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jonathan India drove in Fraley with a sacrifice fly to put Cincinnati ahead 1-0.
After Will Benson struck out swinging, TJ Friedl cleared the bases with a three-run shot to right-center field, pushing it to 4-0.
The Reds connected again in the third. Jeimer Candelario singled and advanced to third on Spencer Steer's base hit that followed. Candelario, who went 2-for-4, then scored on Fraley's sacrifice fly to right field to make it 5-0.
Brown entered the game allowing only two hits combined across his previous three appearances (two starts).
After briefly threatening in the third with a single and a walk, the Cubs got on the board in the fifth. Nico Hoerner hit a one-out single to left field and went to third on Seiya Suzuki's ground-ball single to right. Cody Bellinger then stepped up and connected on a fastball for a single to center field, scoring Hoerner to cut the deficit to 5-1.
Bellinger went 3-for-4.
In the sixth, Patrick Wisdom and Ian Happ hit back-to-back singles to open the inning. Wisdom made it to third on a fielder's choice and scored to narrow it to 5-2 on another force-out.
Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz was 0-for-5 on the day, striking out four times. He finished the series 0-for-14 with nine strikeouts.
--Field Level Media
Cincinnati | Chi. Cubs | |
Nick Lodolo | Player | Ben Brown |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.0 | IP | 5.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 6 |
7 | Hits | 6 |
3.00 | ERA | 9.00 |
Cincinnati | Chi. Cubs | |
Jake Fraley | Player | Cody Bellinger |
3 | Hits | 3 |
1 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
4 | TB | 4 |
1.000 | Avg | .750 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Cincinnati | 10 | 1 | 14 | .312 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Chi. Cubs | 8 | 0 | 9 | .235 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |