Holmes' best start as a Cub spoiled by D-backs' walk-off in 5-run comeback

PHOENIX – Clay Holmes has been simply dominant lately, but the Cubs couldn’t take advantage in the desert on Tuesday.

Ian Happ homered and Holmes allowed just two hits over seven scoreless innings, but the Cubs’ bullpen allowed five unanswered runs in the game’s final two innings en route to a stunning 5-4 loss.

Holmes put together another gem in Arizona on Tuesday, but the Diamondbacks’ late-game rally upended what had been a feel-good game for both him and the Cubs, and instead set up a rubber match in the desert on Wednesday afternoon.

Relievers Daniel Palencia and Jacob Webb walked two batters and hit another while allowing five runs on three hits over the game’s final two innings. That set the stage for D-backs rookie Ryan Waldschmidt, who hit a pinch-hit two-out, two-run walk-off home run to lead Arizona to its first win over the Cubs this season.

“I don't think it was a bad ending by [Palencia in the eighth], but you know, the bottom line is there were some free passes,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Essentially, there's two free baserunners with the walks, and then the hit batter, and then they had some batted ball luck and a good swing.”

Holmes had his best outing yet as a Cub, keeping the Diamondbacks off balance all night with an effective five-pitch arsenal. Tuesday marked the 33-year-old’s fourth start since being acquired from the Mets at the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, and he’s been particularly spectacular across his last three starts; he has allowed just one run in his last 19 innings.

He relied primarily on his sinker, which accounted for half of his pitches, and mixed in the sweeper, cutter, changeup and curveball. Holmes' best pitch on Tuesday was his cutter, which had a 46 percent whiff rate, but all of his pitches seemingly gave Arizona trouble.

Holmes had spent a significant amount of time on the injured list with a right fibula fracture – his last start with the Mets was May 15 – but appears to be settling into his new surroundings.

The results are hard to argue with.

“The further I get removed from the rehab stuff, and just back into my normal routine, I think things will just continue to build,” Holmes said. “ I think a lot of it is that you are feeling comfortable with the guys here, the pitching coaches, the training staff and the catchers.”

Michael Busch added an RBI single in the sixth, which also marked the Cubs’ 30th consecutive run scored since they last allowed one. That mark toppled a record that was 150 years old; Chicago scored 29 consecutive runs in both September 1876 and May 1969, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

At the time, the game looked like a foregone conclusion. But Gabriel Moreno’s two-out check-swing RBI double that hit the first-base bag snapped the streak, and Waldschmidt completed the comeback against Webb in the inning thereafter.

“Stuff happens,” said Palencia, who was visibly shaken in the eighth after hitting Jordan Lawlar in the head with a 98.5 mph four-seamer. “It just depends how you take it, and I think something is bad when you don't learn from it.”

The Cubs had won two straight, and collectively had not allowed a run since the second inning of Sunday’s 19-2 win over the Mariners.

Happ gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead with a three-run home run in the fourth inning, blasting a hanging curveball – the eighth pitch of the at-bat – a Statcast-projected 397 feet to right field. The 32-year-old has three home runs over his last five games, and nine RBIs in his last three.

“We need Ian, from the left side, to have some power, and I think he provides some,” Counsell said. “I think we've done a really good job of putting base runners on; Ian's taken a couple big swings on the road trip.”