CINCINNATI — The Chicago Cubs needed a grind-it-out, bounce-back win Saturday against the Cincinnati Reds, and they got it in a 3-2 victory with timely hitting and a better outing from right-hander Zach Davies.
Closer Craig Kimbrel recovered from allowing back-to-back singles to open the ninth inning, retiring the next three Reds — two by strikeout — to strand runners at the corners for his fifth save.
The win featured late-inning fireworks.
Cubs shortstop Javier Báez appeared to take exception with Reds left-hander Amir Garrett’s chest-pounding and finger-pointing after he struck out Anthony Rizzo in the eighth inning. Báez yelled at Garrett from the dugout and made a “Let’s go” gesture to the pitcher as he climbed over the railing.
Báez and Garrett moved toward each other, prompting both dugouts and bullpens to clear. Reds third baseman Mike Moustakas stepped in and held back Báez from reaching Garrett. Nobody from either team was ejected.
Davies navigated through a couple of trouble spots during his four-inning outing. He looked better than his last time out Monday in Atlanta. The Reds grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first, capitalizing on Tyler Naquin’s leadoff double on a pitch low and out of the zone.
Davies induced a ground ball off Nick Castellanos’ bat, but third baseman David Bote airmailed the throw to first, allowing Naquin to score. The Reds tacked on a second run in the inning with a sacrifice fly, the last they would get off Davies.
Davies worked around two-out, bases-loaded situations in the third and fourth innings. He again struggled with command at times, walking three batters. It’s the fifth time in six starts Davies walked at least three.
Davies helped himself, putting down a safety squeeze to get the Cubs on the scoreboard in the third, making it 2-1. Jason Heyward’s RBI single in the fourth tied it, and they went ahead on Nico Hoerner’s RBI single in the sixth.
The Reds won Game 1 of the series 8-6 on Friday.
