Arizona 4, Chi. Cubs 3
When: 4:10 PM ET, Sunday, May 24, 2015
Where: Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Angel Hernandez, 1B -
Scott Barry, 2B -
Ted Barrett, 3B -
Chris Conroy
Attendance:
39660
By The Sports Xchange
PHOENIX -- Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Jeremy Hellickson is in his first season as Paul Goldschmidt's teammate, but seven weeks was enough for him to form an opinion about the first baseman.
"Best player in the game," Hellickson said Sunday.
Goldschmidt homered and drove in three runs, and the Diamondbacks recorded a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Chase Field.
Goldschmidt singled home a run in the first inning and hit a two-run homer in the third, his 12th long ball of the season, to help Hellickson (2-3) earn his first victory since April 19. Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler barely took a step on Goldschmidt's no-doubt homer to deep right-center that gave Arizona a 4-1 lead.
"He really is good," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Give him credit. He drove in those runs. We were really trying to stay away from him but did not do a good job of it."
Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed extended his career-best hitting streak to nine games with a leadoff triple in the third inning, and he scored on Hellickson's sacrifice fly to give Arizona a 2-1 lead. It was Hellickson's first career RBI in a career spent in the American League until this year.
Right fielder Ender Inciarte then singled and stole second base before Goldschmidt's two-out homer off right-hander Jason Hammel (3-2).
"That ball he hit out, I've never seen a guy (with) basically just a flick of his wrists hit it that far," Arizona manager Chip Hale said. "He has just good mechanics with his hands to stay through the ball."
Goldschmidt, the National League MVP runner-up in 2013, is tied for second in the NL in homers and is third with 38 RBIs.
"I just try to hit, keep it simple," Goldschmidt said. "Fortunately, he made a mistake in the middle of the plate and I hit it out of there."
Inciarte also had two hits for Arizona (21-22), which won for the sixth time in seven games.
Left fielder Chris Coghlan and catcher Miguel Montero homered, and right fielder Jorge Soler had two hits for the Cubs (24-19), which lost its fourth game in seven since a six-game winning streak.
Hellickson gave up three runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one while matching his longest outing of the season.
"The main thing was, my fastball was down," said Hellickson, who won 50 games in five seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays before being acquired by the Diamondbacks in the offseason.
"My mindset going into every start is go as deep as I can. I wish I could have got through seven, but I'll definitely take this."
Arizona right-hander Brad Ziegler pitched the ninth inning for his second save, getting former teammate Montero to fly out to left field with a runner on first base to end the game.
Hammel gave up four runs and five hits in seven innings and had a streak of five consecutive quality starts broken. He struck out a season-high nine, walked one and did not give up a hit after the third inning.
"I was shocked at how many first-pitch swings they had today," Hammel said, "so I made the adjustment later in the game, and that is how I was able to get through seven. They put some good swings on mistakes, and it was just enough."
Goldschmidt singled in Inciarte in the first inning before Montero hit an opposite-field homer to left field to tie the game in the second inning. Montero had 97 homers in his nine seasons with Arizona before being traded to the Cubs in the offseason.
Coghlan's seventh homer after Soler's double in the fifth inning finished the scoring.
"They got us earlym and we were not able to muster up enough offense," Maddon said.
NOTES: Cubs 2B Addison Russell received a day off after starting 29 of 30 games since his contract was purchased from Triple-A Iowa on April 21. The second-youngest player in the majors, Russell is hitting .241 with t
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Chi. Cubs
|
5 |
2 |
12 |
.161 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
| Arizona
|
6 |
1 |
11 |
.207 |
7 |
10 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
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