Bats erupt in time to back Corbin's 12th win

PHOENIX -- Throughout his club's recent struggles at the plate, D-backs manager Kirk Gibson remained adamant that the team would find a way turn things around.

So when Arizona broke out of its prolonged slump Tuesday to the tune of 14 hits including six with runners in scoring position, the skipper only had a couple of words to say.

"Told ya."

Surpassing their offensive output from their previous five games combined, the D-backs slugged their way to a 10-4 victory Tuesday night over the Cubs at Chase Field, marking the first time the club had scored more than six runs in a game since July 7 and giving Patrick Corbin his 12th win of the season.

"We all knew what was going on, we're all pretty realistic about the games we were losing and why we were losing them," said A.J. Pollock, who snapped out of a 1-for-17 stretch by collecting two hits and driving in three runs. "For whatever reason the offense had been lacking, so it's good to bust out and show we have it."

The Dodgers won their fifth consecutive game Tuesday to maintain a half-game lead over Arizona in the National League West, but that didn't take away from the D-backs' encouraging performance. Five players tallied multiple hits including Adam Eaton, who reached base four times and scored three runs after entering the game hitting .185 in his first 10 games of the season since coming off the disabled list.

"You always want to have that success right away, but it didn't come so it was nice to see it tonight," Eaton said. "Hopefully we can run with this as a team."

In the lineup for the first time since July 8, Eric Chavez matched Pollock with three RBIs, all of which came with two outs. Martin Prado also blasted his ninth home run of the year as part of a two-RBI night while Paul Goldschmidt upped his average to .314 with a pair of hits, including one that plated his 80th RBI of 2013.

"It's contagious," Chavez said. "But it doesn't mean anything if we don't back it up tomorrow."

Early on Tuesday, it looked as if the D-backs might struggle again to put runs on the board. The team tallied just a pair of singles in the first four innings, one of which was erased with a caught stealing.

The breakthrough came in the fifth when Prado tied the game at 1 with his long ball. The following inning, the D-backs strung together four hits and two walks to plate three runs and take their first lead of the game. The club put the contest out of reach with three more runs in both the seventh and eighth innings.

"It was good, our guys got some big hits," Gibson said. "We were really good with runners in scoring position, we hit the gaps. We just played a really good game."

On the mound for the first time since July 12, Corbin wasn't at his best Tuesday, but he kept the damage to a minimum, limiting the Cubs to just one run on four hits and three walks over six solid innings to outduel fellow NL All-Star Travis Wood. The D-backs southpaw has now surrendered two earned runs or fewer in 16 of his 20 starts in 2013.

"I had a lot of rest from the last start, but I felt great, I just left some pitches up, all that layoff maybe had something to do with it, but my body felt great," Corbin said. "I threw a lot of pitches and I wasn't as sharp today, but I'm happy with the outcome."

Before the Arizona offense came alive, the Cubs jumped on Corbin in the third when Anthony Rizzo drove an RBI knock up the middle to score Wood, who singled to lead off the frame.

Corbin bounced back to retire the side in order in the fourth but again ran into trouble in the fifth, loading the bases with two outs on a single and a pair of walks before escaping the jam unscathed when Cody Ransom lined out to short.

The 24-year-old would've liked to go deeper Tuesday, but with a pitch count of 96 after a 1-2-3 sixth, Gibson went to the bullpen for the final three frames, marking just the seventh time this season Corbin didn't pitch more than six innings.

"He struggled a bit but he's picked us up all year," Chavez said. "So it was nice to return the favor today."