Chicago Cubs walk-off in the 13th on a huge day from Heyward

After dropping Saturday’s game to the Giants, the Chicago Cubs stormed back with an exciting walk-off win. Today’s victory over San Francisco puts them back at 40 games over .500 as they prepare to hit the road for nine-games.

And on the day the Chicago Cubs claimed another series win, veteran right-hander John Lackey made his return. Mike Montgomery made a few spot starts since Joe Maddon picked up a six-man rotation.

While Montgeromy has pitched well, it is great to see Lackey back in the rotation where he belongs. However, Lackey was unable to pick up the win in his return as Johnny Cueto started opposite of him.

Lackey (9-7, 3.36 ERA) had a sharp outing, yielding only one earned run on one hit while issuing one walk. In addition, he struck out four batters before exiting after five innings of work, trailing by a single run.

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On the offensive side of things, Chicago (88-48) matched San Francisco (73-63) at one apiece on Jason Heyward‘s RBI single. Heyward would be charged with a fielding error out in right-fielder on a what should have been a routine play.

Instead, the ball bounced out of Jason’s glove, allowing Hunter Pence to advance to second on the play. Pence has been huge for the Giants over the course of this series, hammering a few home runs and tallying multiple hits.

Other than that, San Francisco’s offense had been non-existent as they ended the series with a batting average of .106. However, they managed to regain the lead in the fifth inning behind a sacrifice bunt courtesy of Ehire Adrianza.

Comeback

After failing to score a run in three innings, the Cubs rallied in the ninth, yet again. Heyward, who tied the game earlier, came through again with Addison Russell on base. Russell led off the frame with his 20th double of the year out to left field and advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Still, with no outs in the frame. Moments later, Heyward drove a pitch past the diving second baseman, into center field, scoring Russell from third to tie things up.

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Closer Aroldis Chapman worked two solid innings, allowing only one hit and striking out four in two innings. Both clubs combined for 16 relievers and eight pinch-hitters.

Thankfully, teams were allowed to expand their rosters. Now, back to Heyward and his amazing performance in the box. First baseman Anthony Rizzo got things started with a single out to left, and advanced to second on a groundout.

Rizzo scored the game-winning run on Heyward’s third hit of the afternoon then proceeded to mob today’s hero.