Chicago Cubs tie late but Royals rally back to win 8-4

The Chicago Cubs went into the seventh inning down by a score of 4-3 when Addison Russell came up to face flame throwing reliever Kelvin Herrera and hit a solo home run to tie the game up at 4-4.

Unfortunately for the Cubs, the tie didn’t last long. Set-up man Pedro Strop entered the game in the eighth and walked Mike Moustakas to lead off the inning which set up a Lorenzo Cain double to deep center to bring in the go-ahead run.

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That one run would then open the floodgates as the Royals would put up two more in the inning and another in the ninth to give the Royals an 8-4 win over the Cubs.

With the win, the Kansas City Royals (29-19) end their four-game skid while the Chicago Cubs (25-22) now have lost five of their last six games, falling into a second-place tie with the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are now six games behind the N.L. Central-leading St. Louis Cardinals by six games.

The Royals started the game with a first-pitch leadoff home run by Alcides Escobar. In the second inning, Alex Gordon took his first pitch yard as well to put the Royals up 2-0 after two innings.

Kris Bryant would cut the lead in half with an RBI double that scored Russell, making the score 2-1 Royals. Bryant finished the day going 2-for-4 with the RBI.

Kansas City answered right back in the top half of the fourth with another home run, this time by Salvador Perez, making the score 3-1. The Royals put one more on the board in the sixth when Eric Hosmer doubled in Cain for a 4-1 lead.

Jorge Soler got the Cubs close when he hit a two-run shot to left field off Edinson Volquez to get the Cubs within one run. That would be Soler’s only hit of the day.

Jake Arrieta (4-4, 3.18 ERA) didn’t pitch as badly as it may seem, he had trouble keeping the ball in the park, but overall had good control of his pitches. Arrieta went seven innings, giving up four runs, eight hits, three homers, no walks, and striking out five.

Strop giving up the walk and go ahead double was the losing pitcher on record, falling to 1-3 on the year for the Cubs.

Volquez wasn’t as sharp as he’s been against the Cubs in his career, but he was able to keep the ball down until the Soler homer. Volquez went 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs, six hits, one walk, and nine punch-outs.

Despite giving up the tying home run, did pick up the win for the Royals. He is now 1-1 on the season out of the pen for the Royals.

The Cubs committed two more errors today, one by Fowler that brought in two runs, the other by Edwin Jackson who came into the ninth – that would also bring in a run.

What is Next:

Game two of the three-game weekend series is tomorrow evening between the Chicago Cubs (25-22) and the Kansas City Royals (29-19). On the hill for the Royals will be Yordano Ventura (3-4, 4.64 ERA) and the Cubs will counter with Tsuyoshi Wada (0-0, 2.70 ERA).

Ventura is coming off a loss against the St. Louis Cardinals that saw him allow four runs on five hits over his seven innings of work. Ventura, who is better known on the south side of Chicago for his role in a bench-clearing brawl against the White Sox on April 25.

Wada is looking for his first win on the season, but he has only made two starts since coming off the disabled list. Wada has pitched well but hasn’t made it past the sixth inning in any of his outings. He is holding batters to a .222 batting average; he’ll need that kind of performance against the top batting average team.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:15 CT and will be televised nationally on Fox.

Next: Carl Edwards, Jr. Promoted to Triple-A Iowa

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