Josh Rojas hit a career-best three of Arizona’s season-high seven home runs, and David Peralta went deep twice, as the visiting Diamondbacks powered their way to a 10-6 win over the Chicago Cubs on Friday.
Taking advantage of a warm afternoon with the wind blowing out, the Diamondbacks hit the second-most homers for a game in club history to win their second straight — in this four-game set — after losing a season-high six in a row.
Rojas entered without a homer in 2022 and 13 in 210 career games, but made the most of the elements and drove in four runs.
Chicago native Alek Thomas (two hits) clubbed his third homer and Christian Walker went deep late for his Diamondbacks-leading 10th. Humberto Castellanos (3-1) allowed three runs, five hits and struck out five over 5 1/3 innings. He walked one.
The Cubs also set a season high with four home runs — solo shots from Patrick Wisdom, Jonathan Villar (two hits), rookie Christopher Morel (two hits) and ex-Diamondback Ildemaro Vargas. However, Kyle Hendricks (2-4) yielded season highs of seven runs and eight hits, while matching a career worst with four homers, over five innings as Chicago dropped its third straight after winning four in a row.
The 11 combined home runs tied the most in Wrigley Field history.
Arizona opened with the scoring with Jake McCarthy’s two-run single in the first. The Cubs then got to Castellanos in the second when he allowed a second homer to Wisdom in less than a week and rookie Morel’s game-tying single.
However, homers from Rojas and Peralta in the third gave Arizona the lead for good. Though Villar made it 4-3 with his 100th career home run in the bottom of that frame, Rojas’ second homer came with a man on in the fifth.
Two batters later, Peralta delivered an opposite-field drive to left-center field. Thomas made it 8-3 with his own opposite-field homer in the sixth. Rojas’ blast into the right-field bleachers opened the seventh.
Homers by Morel and Vargas in the seventh made things interesting, but the Cubs stranded the bases loaded.
–Field Level Media
