CHICAGO (AP) – The Arizona Diamondbacks staked Patrick Corbin to a five-run lead before he threw a pitch.
The left-hander easily made it stand up.
Paul Goldschmidt homered and Corbin pitched seven strong innings to pick up his first win in seven weeks, leading Arizona to a 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
A.J. Pollack had two hits and Jeff Mathis added a two-run double as the Diamondbacks won for the fourth time in their last five games at Wrigley Field.
They sent nine batters to the plate while scoring five in the first.
“That’s always good when you get to bat in the first inning, even though I struck out,” Corbin said. “The offense has been great putting up a lot of runs. If we just go out and do our jobs and minimize damage, we should look pretty good.”
Corbin (7-4) gave up just one run and six hits while striking out nine for his first win since June 5. He was 0-2 with a 3.98 ERA in seven starts since.
Goldschmidt’s homer, his 22nd of the season, made it 6-0 in the second. He was 2 for 5 after going 1 for 12 with nine strikeouts in three games since the All-Star break. Goldschmidt came in with a .361 career average (48 for 133) against the Cubs, including a three-homer game at Wrigley Field last Aug. 3.
“It doesn’t matter what park he’s in,” D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “I get that same feeling every time he steps to the plate, no matter where he’s at.”
For the second time in four days, Chicago turned to position players to pitch at the end of a lopsided game. Backup catcher Victor Caratini threw one pitch to get the final out of the eighth. After giving up a lead-off single to Goldschmidt in the ninth, Caratini got David Peralta to hit into a double play. Anthony Rizzo then came on to get the final out of the inning in his first career appearance on the mound.
Rizzo had been lobbying manager Joe Maddon to pitch for years.
“That’s it,” Rizzo said. “I got to do what I want to do, lot of fun, and career zero ERA now.”
After playing five games in four days following the All-Star break, the Cubs turned to Luke Farrell (3-4) for a spot start. It didn’t go well from the outset.
Pollack opened the scoring by lining a one-out RBI single off Farrell’s left forearm and into center field, scoring Jon Jay from second base. Jake Lamb followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Ketel Marte then singled to drive in Pollack for a 3-0 lead. After Daniel Descalso singled, Mathis capped the big inning with a two-run double down the left-field line.
“I just left some sliders up in the zone,” Farrell said. “The damage they really did was on the slider.”
Farrell allowed six runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings as his ERA jumped from 3.86 to 5.17.
The Cubs broke through against Corbin in the sixth on an RBI grounder by Rizzo, scoring Ian Happ who led off with a double.
Nick Ahmed drove in Arizona’s final run with a pinch-hit single in the eighth.
