CHICAGO -- Before stepping to the plate with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, Albert Almora Jr. thought back to his at-bat in the opening frame when he grounded out against Phillies starter Cole Irvin to end the inning and strand the bases loaded.

“I didn’t want to leave six men out there,” Almora said. “He was getting me out with changeups. I saw everything else pretty well, so I just told myself, ‘See the changeup.’”

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He saw it, and he crushed it.

Almora hit a grand slam on a first-pitch changeup in the fifth inning, Anthony Rizzo smacked a three-run shot off the right-field scoreboard in the third and Javier Báez added a solo homer in the seventh to power the Cubs to an 8-4 victory over the Phillies on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.

Cole Hamels facing his first Major League club for the first time was the obvious storyline entering the game, but the Cubs offense upstaged the reunion on a night with the wind blowing out. Hamels, who pitched with the Phillies from 2006-15 and was the ace of the 2008 World Series championship club, struggled throughout his four innings. He gave up a run in the first and two more in the third to put the Cubs in a 3-0 hole.

Hamels, who scattered nine hits and two walks to allow just the three runs, didn’t think it felt any different facing the Phillies.

“Not necessarily, because it’s been so long and the team has kind of changed over,” Hamels said. “I think last year, the first time going there, was probably more so, just getting back in the swing of things. Now when you’re playing, you just look at them as an opposing team you’re trying to beat with a good lineup.”

Speaking of a good lineup, the Cubs’ bats came to life and bailed out Hamels on a night when he had trouble spotting his fastball.

Kyle Schwarber and Kris Bryant led off the third inning with back-to-back singles, and then Irvin missed with three straight pitches to Rizzo, before the southpaw threw an 88-mph fastball over the inner half of the plate.

Rizzo quickly turned on it and launched a high drive that hit the top of the right-field scoreboard at Wrigley Field for a three-run homer that tied the game. According to Statcast, the blast had an exit velocity of 110 mph and traveled a projected 437 feet.

“That was crushed,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.

The clout gave Hamels a boost. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the fourth inning and saw his night end after that frame. Right-hander Tyler Chatwood took over for Hamels and allowed one run over four-plus innings of relief for the win. Steve Cishek recorded the game's final three outs.

Two innings later, the Cubs broke the game open. After Bryant doubled, Rizzo and Willson Contreras walked to load the bases. Almora then stepped to the plate and hit the first pitch -- an 84-mph changeup -- into the batter’s eye in center for his first career grand slam and a 7-3 Cubs lead.

“It was a big at-bat for me, because he had gotten me out twice already,” Almora said. “As a competitor, you want to have success and it started to get to me a little bit.”

Almora is batting .337 with five homers and 14 RBI in his last 24 games. The run production is one reason Maddon has started hitting Almora sixth instead of at the top or the bottom of the lineup like he’s done for most of his career.

“By putting him down there, I have a strong belief the ball is going to be moved with people on base,” Maddon said.

Irvin, who was called up on May 12, was impressive in his first two starts in the Majors but had a humbling night against the Cubs, giving up seven runs on seven hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings.

Baez returned to the lineup after not starting the previous two games with a bruised right heel. He pinch-hit in the ninth on Tuesday and delivered a walk-off single to give the Cubs a 4-3 win. On Wednesday, his solo shot off reliever Enyel De Los Santos in the eighth made it 8-3 before Andrew McCutchen hit solo homer in the eighth to end the run of eight straight Cubs runs.