CINCINNATI — First baseman Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run home run, and shortstop Starlin Castro went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI, lifting the Chicago Cubs to a 9-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park.
Catcher Welington Castillo also had three hits including a double for Chicago (9-17) which earned a split in what became a brief two-game series following Monday’s rainout.
Catcher Brayan Pena hit his first home run for Cincinnati (12-15) on Wednesday.
Cubs starter Edwin Jackson (2-2) allowed four earned runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings and the bullpen backed him up with 3 1/3 scoreless innings to seal the win.
The Cubs were clinging to a 5-4 lead in the ninth when they added four insurance runs off left-hander Sean Marshall, two on right-fielder Nate Schierholtz’s two-run single.
Marshall allowed four runs, two earned, and four hits in just two-thirds of an inning.
Cincinnati’s starting pitcher, lefty Tony Cingrani, allowed three earned runs and a career-high six hits in four innings. He walked two and fanned two.
Cingrani was replaced by right-hander Nick Christiani, who promptly allowed a double by left-fielder Junior Lake then walked two to load the bases with no outs. Chicago scored a pair of runs on a fielder’s choice and sacrifice fly to go ahead 5-3.
Christiani (0-1) allowed two runs and walked three in two innings to earn his first loss.
The Cubs pounded Cingrani in the first inning. Immediately after left-fielder Junior Lake was retired on a fly ball to the warning track, Rizzo crushed a two-run home run 426 feet to left-center field, putting Chicago ahead 2-0.
Cincinnati tied the score 2-2 on third baseman Todd Frazier’s two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the first. Right-fielder Jay Bruce slid underneath Welington Castillo’s tag for the tying run. Cubs manager Rick Renteria considered challenging the call but didn’t.
Pena’s solo homer put the Reds ahead 3-2 leading off the second. But Castro’s second hit, an RBI single in the third knotted the score yet again.
Cingrani was lifted after 79 pitches through four innings.
NOTES: Reds LHP Aroldis Chapman is tentatively scheduled to start Thursday night and pitch one inning for Class-A Dayton. It will be Chapman’s first game action since being struck on the forehead with a line drive in a spring training game on March 19. … Cubs SS Starlin Castro extended his hitting streak to five games with a first-inning double. … Reds C Brayan Pena’s second-inning homer was his first since Aug. 11, 2013, at Yankee Stadium while with the Tigers. It was his third National League homer, first since 2007 while a member of the Braves. … Cincinnati hosts first-place Milwaukee, owners of baseball’s best record, in a four-game series beginning Thursday night at Great American Ball Park. Following an off-day Thursday, the Cubs host the rival St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game set at Wrigley Field.