Kris Bryant was already rolling along when Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell got going. Once they did, the Chicago Cubs were on their way to another lopsided victory.
Bryant on Wednesday hit his 100th career homer, and Rizzo and Russell connected in an eight-run third inning as the Cubs pounded the Miami Marlins 13-4.
Rizzo also had a pair of doubles and finished with five RBIs as the Cubs outscored the Marlins 31-9 in a three-game sweep after dropping a season-high five in a row. It was quite a turnaround for a team that finished with three runs or less in 10 of 11 games prior to the series.
Photo: David Banks-USA TODAY
Manager Joe Maddon wants to see more consistency at the plate.
“We need to get going on the offensive side,” he said. “It’s nice to find the barrel. We need to find the barrel a little bit more.”
On the third anniversary of his first career home run, Bryant hit a drive about halfway up the bleachers in left field in the first inning. He followed his third homer in four games with an RBI double to deep center field in the third inning.
Chicago poured it on from there, scoring seven more runs in the inning against Taiwanese left-hander Chen Wei-yin to go up 9-0 while sending 11 batters to the plate.
“You couldn’t have scripted it any better,” Bryant said. “First home run three years ago and 100, I guess it made it even more special. It was pretty cool.”
Rizzo, Russell, Albert Almora and Willson Contreras each had three of Chicago’s 17 hits.
Jose Quintana (4-2) returned the favor after getting hit hard in a loss at Miami on April 1. The left-hander allowed one run and five hits in six innings.
Rizzo hit a three-run homer to right field in the third inning and added RBI doubles in the fourth and sixth innings.
Russell led off the third with a double and scored, then capped the inning with a two-run shot.
Miguel Rojas hit a two-run homer for Miami in the seventh inning, while Bryan Holaday added a solo drive in the ninth.
Miami starting pitcher Chen (1-2) got tagged for nine runs and seven hits over three innings in his third start back from a strained left elbow. His earned runs leaped from 4.82 to 10.22 ERA.
“He didn’t miss any bats,” manager Don Mattingly said. “It’s a good-hitting club and Wei-yin basically is a fly-ball pitcher. Not the best circumstances for him, but obviously I expect him to be better than that.”
Bryant, making his second start in right field, had two neat catches.
He made a sliding grab on Cameron Maybin in the fourth inning and reached near the wall to snag Starlin Carlin Castro’s foul in the sixth.
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