CINCINNATI _ It was only one game in a long season, but the Cubs' 12-5 win over the Reds on Thursday night at the Great American Ball Park took on added significance thanks to their monthslong road struggles.
Nicholas Castellanos hit two home runs, Ian Happ homered and drove in four runs, Jonathan Lucroy knocked out three hits in his team debut and the Cubs tied a season high with 18 hits to start a 10-game trip on a good note.
With their two closest pursuers in the National League Central having the night off, the Cubs moved 3 { games ahead of the Brewers _ their largest lead of the season _ and four ahead of the Cardinals.
A Cubs-centric crowd of 20,111 was treated to an offensive explosion for the second straight day following Sunday's 10-1 win over the A's. The ones who stuck even got to see Javier Baez hit left-handed against catcher Kyle Farmer in the ninth _ and fly out.
Tyler Chatwood earned the win with three innings of shutout relief, taking over for Cole Hamels after the veteran left-hander was hit early and often in his second start since returning from a left oblique injury.
After Castellanos started a four-run third with the first of his two home runs, giving the Cubs a 5-1 lead, Hamels coughed it up in the bottom of the inning. The Reds sent 10 men to the plate and scored four times, including the tying run on a catcher's interference call on Lucroy, whose mitt connected with Nick Senzel's swing with the bases loaded.
Hamels struck out Joey Votto to escape more damage, but he was done for the night, allowing four earned runs on eight hits and two walks in only three innings. The last time he pitched in Cincinnati, on June 28, he lasted only one inning before leaving with the oblique strain.
Castellanos gave the Cubs the lead again in the fourth with a solo home run to right, and Lucroy added an RBI double in the fifth to make it 7-5.
Happ's two-run homer in the seventh preceded a two-run single by Kris Bryant, and the Cubs pulled away. Happ, who was drafted by the Cubs in the first round out of the University of Cincinnati, is hitting .404 with six home runs and 12 RBIs in 15 games at the Great American Ball Park.
The Reds sent in their catcher, Farmer, to pitch with two outs in the eighth and watched him retire Jason Heyward while lobbing the ball to the plate. Heyward even swung and missed at one slow pitch.
Farmer returned for the ninth, and Baez came to the plate with two outs and shocked everyone by batting from the left side for the first time in his career. Baez flied out to center and laughed as he ran to first.
