After being spanked by the Texas Rangers 9-5 on Thursday, the Diamondbacks (32-24) travelled to historic Wrigley field to take on the hapless Chicago Cubs (23-32).
Wade Miley (3-5, 5.01 ERA) added to the D-backs' woes Friday by giving up all seven of the Cubs runs in Arizona's 7-2 loss. This marked the second consecutive start Miley had given up seven earned runs.
The Cubs hammered Miley's pitching and all seven of their runs came via the long ball. Alfonso Soriano popped a two-run homerun just over the fence in the first inning.
Then came the dreadful third inning. After allowing runners to reach second and third base, Miley thought it would be best to intentionally walk Soriano, which loaded the bases. That proved to be a terrible mistake, as the next batter Scott Hairston hit a 417-foot bomb for a grand slam. Two batters later, former D-back Cody Ransom hit the Cubs' third homer of the day.
Arizona mustered little run support for the struggling Miley. The Cubs' Matt Garza (1-0, 3.38) pitched seven innings of two-run baseball in his first start of the season.
On Saturday, the game was delayed several hours due to rain, but just as the game was slow to start, so was so-called "ace" Ian Kennedy (3-3, 4.74). After Gerardo Parra led off the game with a homerun to give Arizona a 1-0 lead, Kennedy gave up three runs in the bottom of the first.
Besides Parra's homerun, the D-backs, again, had trouble hitting a Cubs starting pitcher. This time, it was Jeff Samardzija (3-6, 2.96). Samrdjiza struck out 11 Diamondbacks, but Arizona finally chased him from the game in the sixth inning when they got two runners on base. After Martin Prado walked to load the bases, Jason Kubel, glad to see another pitcher, hit a three-run double to center field against James Russell (1-1, 1.29) to give the Diamondbacks a 4-3 lead.
But apparently, Kennedy didn't appreciate the three-run double, as he allowed a homerun to Nate Schierholtz the following inning.
In the eighth inning, Carlos Marmol (2-3, 5.64) came into pitch for the Cubs, which Cubs fans will tell you is never a good thing. Marmol loaded up the bases for Paul Goldschmidt, and Goldschmidt absolutely crushed a hanging slider for his first career grand slam and his 13th homerun of the year. The D-backs tagged on another four runs in the ninth and won in a landslide 12-4.
Arizona continued their offensive surge into Sunday's game against former Diamondback Edwin Jackson (1-8, 6.29). The Diamondbacks singled home most of their runs and evenly distributed their offense throughout the game.
A two-run single by Gerardo Parra gave the D-backs their first lead in the second, and they never looked back, defeating the Cubs 8-4.
Despite having his worst outing of the year, Patrick Corbin (9-0, 2.06) still managed to be the first pitcher to reach nine wins this season. Corbin allowed four earned runs in six innings of work. Even though the Cubs threatened to score often, Corbin was able to stave off the big inning.
Manager Kirk Gibson received three scoreless innings from his bullpen, including closer-for-now Heath Bell (2-0, 3.74), who, surprisingly, did not allow a base-runner.
The Diamondbacks, who remain in first place by 2.5 games, next travel to St. Louis to face the Cardinals. Trevor Cahill (3-5, 2.88) will begin the 4-game series for the D-backs against Lance Lynn (7-1, 2.91).
