Chicago Cubs walk-off in wet win over Cincinnati Reds

Castro delivers walk-off single in ninth

Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro delivered a walk-off base hit in the bottom of the ninth, sending the home faithful happy after a lengthy rain delay, a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds in tow.

With runners on first and second, Castro took the 1-0 pitch from Tony Cingrani and lined it to center field. Cincinnati outfielder Billy Hamilton came up firing, but his throw was off-line, allowing Kris Bryant to score the winning run.

The win marked Chicago’s 11th last at-bat win of the season, the most in the big leagues.

Prior to the nearly-three hour rain delay, right-hander Kyle Hendricks turned in a gem for the Cubs, allowing just one earned run in five innings of work, striking out seven. From there, Joe Maddon turned things over to the bullpen, which was, for the most part, effective.

Eugenio Suarez connected against Chicago left-hander James Russell in the top of the sixth for his first career blast, a two-run homer that pulled Cincinnati even 3-3. Neither team scored again until the bottom of the ninth when Castro delivered the game-winning base hit.

Chicago (33-27) kept pace with St. Louis in the National League Central with the win. Catcher Miguel Montero, who has been red-hot of late, continued his torrid pace, clubbing a two-run shot in the bottom of the second – his ninth home run of the season.

In the fourth, Joey Votto launched his 14th homer of the year, giving the Reds their first run of the ballgame. Chicago answered back in the bottom of the fourth when a challenged play on the field resulted in the Cubs picking up a third run.

Justin Grimm, Travis Wood, Pedro Strop and Jason Motte combined for four scoreless innings of work after replacing Russell, who failed to record an out after coming on in relief of Hendricks following the rain delay.

Bryant went 3-for-4 with a trio of runs in the win, while Mike Baxter joined Montero with two hits for the Cubs. As a team, Chicago struck out just two times and did not draw a single walk.

What’s Next:

Chicago will look to finish things off in Sunday’s rubber match against Cincinnati (28-33). Left-hander Jon Lester (4-5, 4.25) will take the hill for the Cubs and will be opposed by Anthony DeSclafani (5-4, 3.53).

First pitch is set for 7:08 p.m. CT at Wrigley Field.

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