Cody Bellinger hit a home run to finish a seven-run second inning, and the Chicago Cubs held on to beat the Washington Nationals 7-6 on Friday night in the first game of a three-game series.
Chicago, which has scored 80 runs in its last eight games, improved to 6-1 on its three-city road trip. The Cubs have won 18 of 26 games since July 31.
“It’s been really fun,” Bellinger said. “Collectively as a whole, it’s been loud. It’s been a lot of barrels. I’m just trying to be a part of that.”
Dylan Crews homered for Washington for the second game in a row, but the Nationals were unable to achieve their first three-game winning streak since July 19-21.
Washington managed to score three runs in the ninth inning against relievers Tyson Miller and Drew Smyly, but Keegan Thompson came in to strike out Crews and earn his second save.
The Cubs had at least one five-run inning in each of their three wins in Pittsburgh earlier this week, and they quickly extended this streak against the Nationals.
Chicago started the second inning with three singles, pushing across a run against Jake Irvin (9-11). Pete Crow-Armstrong then hit a two-run double to put the Cubs ahead 3-2.
A couple of batters later, Armstrong beat first baseman Andrés Chaparro’s throw home on Ian Happ’s fielder’s choice grounder.
Michael Busch’s one-hop double off the wall scored Happ, and Bellinger ended the inning with his 14th home run of the season, a two-run shot that just cleared the wall in right-center.
“We just jumped on him when he lost command a little bit and gave us some balls to hit and it was a seven-run inning,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.
