PHOENIX – Ian Happ homered and Clay Holmes allowed two hits over seven scoreless innings, but the Cubs fell, 5-4, to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Tuesday. Arizona rallied for five runs in the game’s final two innings, spoiling a dazzling performance from Holmes.
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.
D-backs catcher Gabriel Moreno snapped the streak with an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth, and Arizona completed the comeback with Ryan Waldschmidt’s two-out walk-off home run.
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.
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.
Holmes relied primarily on his sinker, which accounted for half of his pitches, and mixed in the sweeper, cutter, changeup and curveball. His best pitch on Tuesday was his cutter, which had a 46 percent whiff rate, but all of his pitches seemingly gave Arizona trouble.
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 Cubs wrap up the series in Arizona on Wednesday afternoon before heading back to Chicago to kick off a seven-game homestand.