KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ After a rocky start to his 2020 season, Yu Darvish is regaining the sharpness that made him one of the more dominant pitchers in the second half of last season.
Darvish limited the Kansas City Royals to five hits in seven innings as the Chicago Cubs pulled away to a 6-1 victory that extended their winning streak to six games.
Their 10-2 record equals their best 12-game start, last accomplished in 1969. The starting pitching has been the backbone of the early success. Darvish lowered the rotation's ERA to a major-league-leading 1.95, and Cubs starters are holding opponents to a .172 batting average.
This marked the first time Cubs starting pitchers have thrown at least seven innings in three consecutive games against the same team since Jason Hammel, Jon Lester and John Lackey did it against the Reds on Sept. 19-21, 2016.
After allowing an RBI single to Nicky Lopez in the third, Darvish retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced.
Darvish has allowed two runs on seven hits in his last 13 innings after allowing three runs in four innings in his first start against the Brewers on July 25.
The Cubs rallied for two runs to take the lead in the fourth but missed a chance to score more because of a lapse by Javier Baez.
The first nine batters went down in order against left-hander Kris Bubic, making his second major-league start. But in the fourth, Kris Bryant singled through a large hole on the right side of the infield and moved to second on a walk by Anthony Rizzo.
Baez, celebrating the sixth anniversary of his major-league debut, hit a high fly to shallow right. Jorge Soler barely moved from right as Nicky Lopez sprinted from second in an attempt to make the catch.
Baez stood at the plate for several seconds before the ball fell safely for a single that scored Bryant with the tying run.
