Marlins rally, but win streak ends with 13-inning loss

CHICAGO -- The Marlins gave themselves a second chance by scoring three times in the ninth inning, but in the end they were done in by Anthony Rizzo's two-run, walk-off homer in the 13th inning at Wrigley Field.

Rizzo belted a towering drive to right field off Kevin Slowey that stayed fair and boosted the Cubs to a 5-3 win on Friday afternoon.

The drive by Rizzo, who drove in four runs on the day, put a close to the 4-hour, 2-minute contest that snapped Miami's four-game winning streak. The 13 innings were a season high for the Marlins, who are now 3-4 in extra innings.

"We really didn't get anything going offensively," Miami manager Mike Redmond said. "In the ninth inning, we were able to mount a rally, which was good to see. We put together some nice at-bats and gave ourselves a chance to play some extras.

"They found a way to get a couple of hits late, and that ended up being the difference."

Junior Lake led off the 13th with a single, and Rizzo, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native, belted his 12th long ball of the season. The Cubs have won four straight.

"It's not the first time I've been in a situation where you know one pitch can lose a game," Slowey said. "I just wasn't able to execute on a couple of pitches. That second pitch to Junior Lake. I didn't want him to be able to get a bat on it, period."

Rizzo's homer came on a first-pitch breaking ball.

"I had a pretty good idea that Rizzo was going to be aggressive," Slowey said. "I wasn't able to get the ball where I needed to get it. He put a good swing on it."

Off the bat, having the distance wasn't the issue, but whether it would remain fair was.

"I hit it up in the air -- the wind was blowing, so you never know," Rizzo said. "I knew I got enough of it, I was just hoping it would stay fair."

Each team had chances, but both also struggled making contact. The Marlins matched a season high by striking out 17 times. The Cubs fanned 16 times.

The Marlins rallied with three runs in the ninth inning, punctuated by Reed Johnson's pinch-hit, two-run tying single.

Giancarlo Stanton had a rough day at the plate, going 0-for-6 with four strikeouts and a double play. Marcell Ozuna added two hits, extending his hitting streak to seven games, but he also struck out four times.

"We can punch out with the best of them, that's for sure," Redmond said. "We went down a lot in Tampa, too, and ended up winning four of those games. We're going to strike out, but we also have the ability to do some damage."

Held down all afternoon, the Marlins scored three in the ninth off closer Hector Rondon. Singles by Casey McGehee, Garrett Jones and Adeiny Hechavarria loaded the bases with one out. Justin Bour, formerly in the Cubs' system, pinch-hit and chopped a grounder to first. Rizzo flipped to Rondon covering the base. Initially, first-base umpire Tony Randazzo ruled Rondon's foot was off the bag.

Cubs manager Rick Renteria asked for a replay challenge, and after a two-minute, 55-second review, the call was overturned. Bour picked up an RBI to cut the Cubs' lead to 3-1, but Miami was down to its final out.

"It looked to me like he was off the base," Redmond said. "I think maybe it looked more like that because he went back to try to touch the base, so maybe it looked like he had missed it. But I don't have the ability to watch the replay like everyone else does. I was kind of surprised they overturned it, but I didn't watch the replay."

Johnson's hit then pulled the Marlins even at 3.

Miami right-hander Nathan Eovaldi had a solid afternoon, throwing 7 2/3 innings while allowing three runs and striking out eight. He retired the first 14 batters he faced before the Cubs scratched out a run with two outs in the fifth.

Eovaldi was one out away from completely minimizing damage in the eighth. But the right-hander gave up a two-out, two-run double to Rizzo, giving Chicago a three-run cushion that didn't last long.

A key play in the inning came when Justin Ruggiano, who doubled, was on second and Emilio Bonifacio slapped a grounder that Eovaldi wasn't able to field cleanly. Eovaldi gathered the ball, and would have had a play on Bonifacio at first, but he looked in the direction of Ruggiano being off the base at second. Miami was unable to record an out, and the play was ruled an infield single.

Rizzo came up two batters later and doubled.

"I felt like I should have had that one," Eovaldi said. "I turned too quickly trying to check second before I had the ball in my glove.

"My full intention was trying to get him at second. When I dropped the ball, I was still trying to get him at second instead of trying to get him at first. When I looked over there I felt I still had a chance to have him at first. It was unfortunate."