When things heat up at Wrigley, balls tend to start flying. This was the case today, as the Astros and Cubs socked a combined five homers, four by the Astros, in a sloppy butt-kicking that saw several errors. The teams combined for 26 hits and five errors, with multiple other gaffes that weren’t noted in the box score. Hunter Pence’s misplay of a ball in right led to a Blake DeWitt triple to put the Cubs up 5-3.
DeWitt would later return the favor by booting a Chris Johnson “double” into the corner to let the Astros extend their lead to 9-6. No pitchers came out of the game unscathed, but Aneury Rodriguez was picked up by the Astros bullpen (yes, that isn’t irony) after going four innings, allowing six runs on seven hits. Sergio Escalona, Enerio Del Rosario, and Wilton Lopez formed a bridge to Mark Melancon with four innings of two hit ball.
Rodrigo Lopez allowed 10 hits and six earned runs in 4.2 innings, but Jeff Samardzija took the loss in relief by allowing two runs in a very shaky 1.2 innings. No Cubs pitchers escaped unscathed, with all of them allowing at least one run.