​CINCINNATI (AP) — Alex Bregman broke a 2-for-18 drought with a seventh-inning two-run homer as the Chicago Cubs surged past the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 on Saturday night. The victory capped a strong run for the Cubs, who improved to 3-2 on a six-game trip into the All-Star break, with Michael Busch collecting three hits and Carson Kelly also going deep for the visitors.
All of Cincinnati’s runs came via the long ball. Nathaniel Lowe, Eugenio Suárez, and JJ Bleday each homered, but the Reds still dropped to 6-21 against NL Central opponents this season. Chicago used six pitchers, with Drew Pomeranz earning the win (2-3) as the second reliever to work in relief. Trent Thornton worked the ninth, getting Sal Stewart to hit into a game-ending grounder with two runners aboard for his third save.
Bregman, who had been mired in a 2-for-18 slump, snapped out of it by cashing in a sweeper from Julian Garcia (0-2) for a line-drive homer down the left-field line, giving the Cubs the lead after Seiya Suzuki had drawn a leadoff walk to start the frame. The Reds initially surged ahead in the fourth, scoring two runs when Lowe and Suárez hit back-to-back homers off Javier Assad, staking Cincinnati to a 2-0 edge.
The Cubs trimmed the gap in the fifth on an RBI single from Suzuki, pulling within a run. Kelly then tied the game in the sixth with a leadoff homer to center off Nick Lodolo, who left the game with a blister on his left index finger after allowing the homer. Kelly finished the night 1-for-4 with a homer; he is batting .298 (14-for-47) with three home runs and 13 RBIs over his previous 15 games.
Caleb Ferguson relieved and surrendered a single to Busch, who scored on Ian Happ’s double to left-center, giving Chicago a 3-2 lead. Cincinnati knotted it again in the bottom of the frame on Bleday’s RBI drive to right, setting the stage for Chicago’s decisive seventh.
In the seventh, Seiya Suzuki reached on a walk and Bregman followed with his decisive two-run homer off Julian Garcia, restoring a Cubs advantage that they would not relinquish. The Cubs added an insurance run on Busch’s subsequent scoring effort, cementing the 5-3 victory.
Looking ahead, the Cubs will send left-hander Matthew Boyd to the mound on Sunday (4-1, 4.31 ERA), opposite the Reds’ left-hander Andrew Abbott (5-5, 3.92 ERA). The latest results leave Cincinnati hoping to reverse a recent trend against division foes as they continue their homestand.