Schwarber's late blast rallies Cubs past Mariners

[May 01, 2019]  Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning as the Chicago Cubs defeated the host Seattle Mariners 6-5 on Tuesday night.

Anthony Rizzo also hit a two-run shot for the Cubs, who opened the two-game series with their third consecutive victory.

Right-hander Brad Brach (3-0) got the victory with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Steve Cishek pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for his first save of the season.

Edwin Encarnacion homered for the Mariners, who lost their third in a row.

With Chicago trailing 5-4 and two outs in the eighth, Willson Contreras lined a double to center field off Mariners right-hander Brandon Brennan (1-2). Schwarber followed by hitting a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right-center field.

The Cubs' Daniel Descalso led off the game with a home run to center field.

In the fourth, Chicago's David Bote led off with a single, moved to second on a two-out walk and scored on Albert Almora's groundball single to center.

The Mariners took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Encarnacion led off with a walk and advanced to third on Tim Beckham's double to left. Jay Bruce grounded out to score Encarnacion, with Beckham moving to third.

With two outs, Omar Narvaez walked and Braden Bishop reached on a fielding error by third baseman Bote, allowing Beckham to score. Dee Gordon then reached on an infield single, with Narvaez scoring on a throwing error by Cubs shortstop Javier Baez to make it 3-2.

Cubs left fielder Kyle Schwarber (12) congratulates second baseman Daniel Descalso (3) following his solo-home run against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The Cubs regained the lead in the top of the fifth as Kris Bryant led off with a double and scored on Rizzo's two-run homer to center.

The Mariners tied it at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth as Ryon Healy led off with a double, took third on a Narvaez single and scored on Gordon's line-drive single to right.

Encarnacion snapped the tie with his solo homer in the seventh.

Cubs left-hander Cole Hamels went 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez completed six innings and gave up four runs on eight hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.

--Field Level Media

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