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 "I've always thought highly of a team that can win in extra innings
on the road," he said. "That really indicates you are focused in the
game in its entirety. We had to come back to begin with, overcame
difficult moments. You can classify this as a team win."
Jonathan Herrera's RBI single drove home the go-ahead run, sparking
a four-run 11th inning to lift the Cubs to a 7-3 victory over the
Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a three-game series at Great
American Ball Park.
First baseman Anthony Rizzo and left fielder Chris Coghlan homered
for Chicago (9-7) off Reds starter Mike Leake.
Also encouraging for Chicago was the performance by starting pitcher
Jon Lester, who allowed three runs on five hits with a walk and a
season-high 10 strikeouts in six innings.
"I'm learning. New league, new faces," Lester said. "Had a better
feel for my cutter tonight. I just keep adjusting. I feel like I
threw the ball better in my last start than the line score showed.
Add this one to that ... I just keep thinking about the task at
hand."
Catcher David Ross added a two-run double in the 11th inning off
Burke Badenhop (0-1), who gave up four runs on four hits in an
inning of work.
Center fielder Billy Hamilton went 2-for-4 with three stolen bases
and scored twice for Cincinnati (8-9), which fell to 1-3 this season
in extra-inning games.
Chicago, meanwhile, improved to 3-0 in extra innings this season.
"I'll take the attitude of this group any day," said Maddon . The
Reds missed their share of opportunities Friday night, going
0-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
"You're not going to win a lot of games with that kind of
statistic," said Reds manager Bryan Price. "We kind of invited them
back into the game. It was out there for us to win, and we couldn't
get it done."
Coghlan, who entered Friday's game 8-for-8 with a homer in his
career against Leake, tied the score 3-3 in the seventh with his
third homer on an 0-2 pitch.
Cincinnati had the go-ahead run at second base with no outs in the
seventh and eighth innings. But Cubs relievers Gonzalez Germen and
Zac Rosscup worked out of the jams.
The Reds also left the bases loaded in the 10th.
"We had opportunities to pull it out. We just couldn't come
through," said Reds right fielder Jay Bruce. "The writing was on the
wall."
Leake allowed three runs in seven innings with a walk and a
season-high nine strikeouts.
Chicago's bullpen tossed four scoreless innings with eight
strikeouts. Jason Motte (1-0) got the win.
Hamilton was the one player in the Reds lineup that Lester couldn't
afford to have reach base on Friday night. Only, he did.
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In the first inning, Hamilton singled, stole second, advanced to
third wild pitch and scored on a groundout to put the Reds ahead
1-0.
In the third, he singled, recorded his 11th and 12th stolen bases of
the season, and scored on another groundout.
Despite being 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, the Reds led
2-0.
Leake retired the first nine batters he faced before center fielder
Dexter Fowler had a double leading off the fourth.
Fowler scored on Rizzo's second home run of the season, a 382-foot
drive to right tying the score 2-2.
"It wasn't the best pitch to throw there," Leake said.
Cincinnati scored its third run when left fielder Marlon Byrd
doubled and later scored on shortstop Zack Cozart's sacrifice fly in
the fourth inning. The Reds were held scoreless for the next seven
innings.
Lester labored early in Friday's game, but by the fifth inning he
had eclipsed his season high with eight strikeouts.
"It tells me that I'm executing my pitches," said Lester of his 10
strikeouts. "Stuff-wise, we did something right tonight with the 10
punch-outs. After the second inning I found my rhythm. I'll take it.
Good team win. We battled back."
NOTES: Cubs 3B Kris Bryant recorded his first career stolen base in
the ninth inning. ... Reds C Devin Mesoraco, who has made just two
pinch-hit appearances since April 12 because of a hip impingement,
was out of the lineup again Friday. Mesoraco expects to catch a
bullpen in a few days. ... Cincinnati has a 61-31 record against the
Cubs dating to the 2010 season, tying for the second-most wins by a
team against any opponent during that span. ... Throughout the
weekend series, the Reds are honoring the 1990 team that went wire
to wire to capture the National League West title before sweeping
the heavily favored Oakland Athletics in the World Series.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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