Cody Bellinger smashed a solo homer in the sixth inning, giving the Chicago Cubs the lead, and Hayden Wesneski pitched four scoreless innings of relief as they defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 on Wednesday.
The Cubs won two out of three games in the series, which featured two extra-inning matchups.
Wesneski, who was called up from Triple-A Iowa just hours before the game, earned the win in his first appearance of the season. He provided much-needed support to the bullpen, allowing only one hit and striking out two batters.
“It was one of our best pitching performances considering the circumstances,” said Cubs manager Craig Counsell.
Wesneski received the call to join the major league team at 1 a.m. after a Triple-A game the previous night. Despite the lack of sleep, he arrived at Chase Field about 1 1/2 hours before the afternoon game and delivered an outstanding performance.
“Being focused on throwing strikes and getting ahead was crucial,” Wesneski said. “With a tired mind, it’s best to keep things simple and trust my instincts.”
Bellinger’s homer, launched into the right-center seats off Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt, gave the Cubs a 3-2 lead. Pfaadt allowed three runs, two of them earned, over seven innings.
“Playing two extra-inning games in one series can be tough on the bullpen, so going seven innings today was important,” Pfaadt said. “I think we can take away some positives from it.”
In the eighth inning, the Cubs added two more runs, including one from Michael Busch’s RBI single. Busch had recently tied a team record with homers in five consecutive games. Mike Tauchman also contributed with an RBI double.
Ketel Marte gave the Diamondbacks an early 1-0 lead with his third leadoff homer of the season and eighth of his career.
