Eric Byrnes hit two home runs in a 4-for-5 day
and drove in five total runs, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 12-3 rout
of the Chicago Cubs to begin a season-ending three-game series at Wrigley
Field.
Rookie Rusty Ryal, who came into the game with five career RBI, drove in four
for Arizona, which snapped a three-game slide. Chris Young went 4-for-4 with a
homer and four runs scored, and Stephen Drew had three hits and an RBI.
Billy Buckner (4-6) allowed three runs on six hits and four walks in 6 1/3
innings to win his second consecutive decision after dropping five straight.
Jake Fox, Aramis Ramirez and Micah Hoffpauir each drove in a run for the Cubs,
who have lost three in a row. Tom Gorzelanny (7-3) allowed seven runs (six
earned), seven hits and a walk in just three frames to take the loss.
Arizona scored three times in the first and four times in the third.
Ryan Roberts tripled leading off the game and scored on Drew's single. Drew
went to second on an error, to third on a fly out and scored on Mark Reynolds'
sacrifice fly. Young followed with a solo homer for a 3-0 lead.
Two singles and a walk loaded the bases in the third with two outs, and Ryal
drilled a three-run double to center to make it a six-run game. Byrnes drove
in Ryal with a single to right for a 7-0 margin.
Byrnes led off the sixth with a homer, and Buckner didn't allow any Cubs
runner to reach third through his first six innings.
Ryal's sac fly and Byrnes' RBI single in the seventh increased the lead to 10.
Chicago put up three runs in the home seventh on Hoffpauir's RBI double,
Ramirez's run-scoring single and Fox's RBI fielder's choice groundout, but
Byrnes' two-run homer in the ninth provided the final margin.
Game Notes
The Diamondbacks lead the season series, 3-1...Chicago's game against
Pittsburgh on Thursday was rained out and will not be made up...Young fell a
triple short of the cycle...It was Byrnes' sixth career multi-homer game and
first since May 30, 2007 against Philadelphia.
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