Eugenio Suarez hit a pair of two-run homers, Pavin Smith and Alek Thomas had three hits apiece and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Chicago Cubs 8-1 for their first victory of the season in Phoenix on Friday.
Suarez hit a 438-foot blast in the second inning and a 418-foot shot in the fourth, each to left-center field and each after Smith opened the inning with a hit. Suarez homered in three of his first six plate appearances this season.
Arizona had 14 hits, eight of them for extra bases, including two doubles apiece by Smith and Thomas. The Cubs had three hits total.
Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly (1-0) gave up one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings, leaving with a 6-1 lead after Dansby Swanson’s one-out single in the sixth. Kelly walked four, struck out one and threw 85 pitches.
Ketel Marte and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. each had two hits apiece for the Diamondbacks, who announced the signing of right-hander Brandon Pfaadt to a five-year, $45 million contract extension before the game.
Cubs starter Jameson Taillon (0-1) gave up nine hits and six runs, including both Suarez homers, in 4 1/3 innings. He had one strikeout and no walks.
The Cubs took a 1-0 lead off Kelly in the second inning. Swanson walked and stole second, and Nico Hoerner reached on a throwing error by shortstop Gerald Perdomo.
Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled to drive in Swanson and put runners on second and third with no outs. Kelly got out of the inning on a comebacker, a grounder to Perdomo, who threw out Hoerner at the plate, and a popup.
Smith singled to open the second inning before Suarez homered, and Smith doubled before Suarez homered in the fourth. Thomas and Perdomo followed with doubles to make it 5-1.
Gurriel doubled to open the fifth inning and scored on Smith’s double, and Josh Naylor and Thomas hit run-scoring singles in the seventh.
–Field Level Media
