Miguel Amaya drove in five runs with two doubles and the Chicago Cubs broke a two-game losing streak with a 10-6 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks before a sellout crowd of 49,070 in Phoenix on Thursday.
Ian Happ had two hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs. Left-hander Justin Steele (1-1) gave up three runs, with one walk and two strikeouts, in five innings to rebound from a season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Tokyo Series on March 19.
Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner had two hits and an RBI in his return to the lineup after missing the Tokyo trip while recovering from offseason forearm surgery.
Eugenio Suarez homered, Ketel Marte and Gabriel Moreno had two hits, and Geraldo Perdomo drove in two runs for the Diamondbacks.
The Cubs’ first eight runs scored with two outs before Amaya’s two-run double with one out in the ninth inning.
Arizona starter Zac Gallen (0-1) gave up four runs on four hits and four walks in four innings.
The Diamondbacks opened the scoring in the first inning, when leadoff hitter Marte doubled and scored on a two-out single by Josh Naylor. It was their only lead.
Gallen walked Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matt Shaw in the second, and Happ drove in both with a double. Kyle Tucker followed with a run-scoring single for a 3-1 lead.
Suarez hit a homer in the second before Happ’s homer in the fourth gave the Cubs a 4-2 lead. Perdomo beat out a chopper to third to drive in Moreno in the fourth to make it 4-3.
Amaya’s bases-clearing double off reliever Ryne Nelson in the fifth inning made it 7-3. Arizona center fielder Jake McCarthy reached Amaya’s line drive with a dive, but the ball bounced out of his glove.
Crow-Armstrong, running from first, had extended the fifth inning when he beat the throw to second base on a routine grounder by Matt Shaw to shortstop Perdomo, loading the bases. Amaya followed with his hit.
In the sixth, Hoerner singled in a run before the Diamondbacks closed to 8-5, scoring on two sacrifice flies after Nate Pearson walked two and hit a batter.
