CHICAGO — Phillip Ervin may be a late-bloomer, but the Cincinnati outfielder has arrived in the majors with bang.
Ervin hit a two-run home run to snap a tie in the seventh inning and had four RBI in his first major league start as the Reds rebounded from blowing a nine-run lead to defeat the Chicago Cubs 13-10 on Thursday.
Ervin, in right field in his fifth game, also had a single and double in four at-bats. On Wednesday, the 25-year-old homered as a pinch hitter for his first hit.
“I have struggled through the minors a bit, so to come up here just showing everybody I can play, it just feels good,” said Ervin, who appeared in three games in April before his recall this week from Class AAA. “So I’m just trying to take it as it is and have fun right now.”
Joey Votto lofted a three-run home run in a nine-run, second-inning rally as Cincinnati raced to a 9-0 lead against Cubs starter Jon Lester on a warm day with the wind blowing out.
Ian Happ hit two solo shots and a sacrifice fly, and Alex Avila went deep and had three RBI for the Cubs, who used six home runs to erase a nine-run deficit for the first time since August 1989 versus Houston.
“A lot of times, that’s a hard game to hold on to because you’ve lost so much momentum,” Reds Manager Bryan Price said. “We were able to hold the line a little bit and settle things down, and then Ervin hits the big homer to make it 11-9.”
Drew Storen (4-2) pitched a scoreless sixth for the victory, then Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 23 chances. Justin Grimm (1-2), who gave up Erwin’s home run and was the second of five Cubs relievers, took the loss.
Happ, Avila, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez homered in the fourth as the Cubs went deep four times in an inning for the first time since June 2008 to cut it to 9-6.
REDS 13, CUBS 10
Kyle Schwarber homered to lead off the fifth, then Anthony Rizzo and Avila drove in runs with doubles against Michael Lorenzen to tie it at 9.
The Reds sent 13 men to the plate in the second. Eugenio Suarez and Ervin each had a single and a double in the eight-hit outburst.
Lester was pulled with left lat tightness with two outs in the inning and saw a doctor after the game. Manager Joe Maddon didn’t have a report on the lefty, but knew his velocity was down and that he lacked finishing pop on pitches.
“They had a lot of soft hits over the infielders’ heads,” Maddon said. “The cutter was down to 84-85 (mph). That’s not quite right.”
Lester was charged with 9 runs, 7 earned, and was replaced by Mike Montgomery after facing 11 batters in the inning and Cincinnati leading 8-0.
It was Cincinnati’s biggest rally since scoring 10 runs in August 2015 versus Detroit.
Montgomery allowed no runs in 41/3 innings to set the stage for the Cubs’ comeback.
“We had a chance to re-group and at that point we just started hitting,” Montgomery said. “Our offense was unbelievable today. It was really just that one inning.”
Bryant led off the fourth with a drive to left that bounced off the bleachers and onto Waveland Avenue. Avila’s two-run home run was followed by consecutive solo shots from Happ and Baez off Reds starter Scott Feldman, who allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings.
Cincinnati permitted four home runs in an inning for the first time since September 2007 versus Milwaukee.
After Chicago tied it 9-9 in the fifth, Ervin put the Reds back in front 11-9 in the seventh. Happ’s sac fly in the bottom half made it 11-10. The Reds added insurance runs in the eighth and ninth.
BRAVES 10, ROCKIES 4 Ender Inciarte hit two of Atlanta’s four home runs and the Braves beat host Colorado. Freddie Freeman and Tyler Flowers also homered, and Lucas Sims (1-3) got his first victory in the majors for the Braves.
CARDINALS 11, PIRATES 7 Dexter Fowler’s two-run triple sparked visiting St. Louis to a comeback victory over Pittsburgh. With the Cardinals trailing 5-4 with one out in the seventh inning, Fowler tripled down the right field line off reliever Joaquin Benoit to give St. Louis a 6-5 lead. Fowler went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI, scored 3 runs and walked twice. The Cardinals remain 1½ games behind Chicago in the NL Central.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
INDIANS 9-2, TWINS 3-4 Yan Gomes and Jason Kipnis each homered and had three hits for Cleveland in a victory in the opener of a doubleheader against host Minnesota, which set a franchise record with 19 strikeouts. In the second game, Max Kepler made up for a fielding mistake in the top of the inning with the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh, sending the Twins to a victory over the Indians.
BLUE JAYS 5, RAYS 3 Justin Smoak hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, Josh Donaldson added two solo home runs and Toronto beat visiting Tampa Bay. Smoak hit a two-run drive off Tommy Hunter (2-4), his 33rd, as the Blue Jays took three of four from the Rays to remain on the fringes of the AL wild card race.
RANGERS 9, WHITE SOX 8 Nomar Mazara drove in five runs, including a tiebreaking three-run home run in the fifth inning, and Texas held on to beat Chicago. The Rangers (60-60) reached .500 for the first time since July 15 with their fourth consecutive victory and seventh in eight games. The defending AL West champs, out of the division race behind Houston, pulled within 1½ games of the idle Los Angeles Angels for the AL’s second wild card.
INTERLEAGUE
DIAMONDBACKS 4, ASTROS 0 Patrick Corbin came within an out short of his first career shutout and first complete game since 2013 in visiting Arizona’s victory over Houston. Corbin (10-11) allowed 4 hits and 1 walk, struck out 7 and threw just 105 pitches.
YANKEES 7, METS 5 Gary Sanchez homered and matched a career high with five RBI, Luis Severino got right back on track and the Yankees made it a four-game sweep in the Subway Series with a victory over the host Mets.
Sports on 08/18/2017