MIAMI (AP) - Addison Russell has found a groove after a slow start.
Russell tied a career high with four hits, including a home run, to pace the Chicago Cubs to an 11-1 victory over the Miami Marlins on Thursday night.
“Addison looks really comfortable,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.
Russell drove in two and also had two doubles, giving him three extra-base hits in a game for the first time in his career. He is hitting .382 (13 for 34) with four home runs and 10 RBIs in his last 10 games. He batted .207 with three homers in 55 games prior to this stretch.
“I feel fine, I feel OK,” Russell said. “I feel like I’m sticking to my approach, seeing the ball well, and just most importantly having good ABs.”
Kris Bryant had a three-run homer, Willson Contreras added a two-run shot and Ian Happ also had four hits and drove in a pair for the Cubs, who have won four of five.
“It was really good to see,” Russell said. “The bats came alive tonight.”
Jake Arrieta (7-5) pitched seven innings, allowing one run and six hits. He struck out three and did not walk a batter over 82 pitches.
“I had low energy today, but that made me stay within myself and maintain a good delivery and focus on executing a good sinker down in the strike zone and our defense was phenomenal tonight,” Arrieta said.
Arrieta also picked up two of the Cubs’ 16 hits.
“He pitched well tonight and he got two knocks, a Silver Slugger guy,” Russell said. “He’s quite a talent.”
It was the first of an 11-game, 11-day trip for the Cubs, who entered having won six of their previous 22 road games.
“I don’t want to get too crazy over one game, but it was a nice game,” Maddon said.
Jeff Locke (0-3) allowed five runs and seven hits in four innings for the Marlins.
“It’s just a constant struggle so far, finishing off innings,” Locke said. “There’s three outs to an inning, not just two. That’s what we’ve had a hard time with. … That’s where our hiccups been now. That needs to change.”
Arrieta knocked in the Cubs’ first run with an infield hit in the second and Mark Zagunis followed with a groundout scoring another run in his first major league at-bat after being called up from Triple-A Iowa in place of struggling slugger Kyle Schwarber.
Marcell Ozuna hit his 20th home run for the Marlins to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Bryant’s three-run shot, his 16th, extended the Cubs’ lead to 5-1 in the fourth.
“The three-run homer was large,” Maddon said.
Russell’s solo shot, his seventh, and Contreras’s two-run homer, also his seventh, pushed the lead to 8-1.
“Ozuna’s homer gets us to 2-1 and you feel like we’ve got a game here,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “… Then we didn’t seem to be able to stop them the rest of the day.”
Russell had an RBI double in the eighth, and Happ followed with a two-run double to cap the scoring.
OZUNA PILING UP HITS
Ozuna went 2 for 4, giving him his 30th multihit game of the season. His career high for multihit games in a season is 39 set last year.
ARRIETA SHARP AGAINST THE MARLINS
Arrieta improved to 3-0 with a 1.38 ERA in four starts against the Marlins. He has struck out 26 and walked four in 26 innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: Placed RF Jason Heyward (left hand abrasion) on the 10-day disabled list retroactive to June 19.
Marlins: Placed RHP Brad Ziegler (right back strain) on the 10-day disabled list retroactive to June 21 and re-instated RHP Junichi Tazawa from the 10-day DL.
UP NEXT
Cubs: RHP John Lackey (5-7, 4.98 ERA) will start the second game of the series Friday. Lackey is 1-2 with a 5.01 ERA in five starts against the Marlins.
Marlins: RHP Jose Urena (5-2, 3.64) will take the mound Friday. Urena has won his last four decisions over six starts.
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