MIAMI (AP) - A night after scoring one run in 17 innings, the Chicago Cubs’ offense showed what it is capable of.
Ben Zobrist had a tiebreaking RBI single and Kris Bryant followed with a bases-clearing double in a four-run 10th inning for the Cubs, who beat the Miami Marlins 10-6 on Saturday night after Yu Darvish struggled in his first start for Chicago.
Kyle Schwarber homered and drove in two runs and Anthony Rizzo also knocked in two for the Cubs, who bounced back after Friday’s 17-inning loss.
“We did some really nice stuff,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “(Jason) Heyward swung the bat really well, but how about Zobrist? Everybody is worried about Zobrist and Zobrist is swinging the bat as well as anybody on the team right now. Schwarber a big bomb there and K.B. (Kris Bryant) continually has good at-bats.”
Darvish pitched 4 1-3 innings, allowing five hits, five runs, and two walks while hitting two batters.
“He wasn’t really sharp overall,” Maddon said. “A lot of pitches for 4 1-3. He showed glimpses where that command was good and other times the fastball command was a little bit off. He threw some good sliders, but I’d say overall he just didn’t have his best stuff tonight.”
Darvish struck out four and threw 59 of his 102 pitches for strikes.
“Overall, I don’t think (my outing) was too bad,” Darvish said through a translator. “It’s just that they made me throw more pitches than I expected so the rhythm got kind of inconsistent there.”
Darvish signed a six-year, $126 million deal with the Cubs last month after ending last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“No nerves,” Darvish said. “I was out there feeling comfortable but it seems like every time I pitched the first game in Japan things went not so well. I don’t know why that happens, but as for today, everything was fine.”
Derek Dietrich homered and drove in a pair, and Starlin Castro added two RBIs for the Marlins.
“Really tonight, I’m proud of our guys,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Guys are out there and everybody knows what situation they’re in as far as rest and this early in the season you get in a bind. They jump us for three there and we come right back and all night long these guys have battled, so this is going to be a fun year for us.”
Javier Baez led off the 10th with a double off Brad Ziegler (0-1), sending a liner off the outstretched glove of third baseman Brian Anderson. Addison Russell followed with a walk and Zobrist lined a base hit to right as Baez slid headfirst into home without a play for a 7-6 lead.
The Cubs then loaded the bases with two outs for Bryant, who hit a grounder just inside the left-field line to clear the bases for a 10-6 lead.
Miami starter Odrisamer Despaigne pitched five innings - allowing five runs, four earned - after tossing the final inning of Friday’s marathon and earning the win.
“I know people probably looked at it differently, but I think we know Odrisamer well enough and he knows himself that this was not a stretch for him and it was not something that he was in any harm’s way of doing anything differently than he does all the time,” Mattingly said. “He pretty much did what we expected. I knew his stuff would be good today. I knew he would be able to mix and match. It was just that one inning (in the fifth) there.”
Despaigne is the first pitcher to finish a game and start his team’s next game since Erasmo Ramirez on May 28-29, 2017, with the Tampa Bay Rays. The last pitcher to win both games was Tom Seaver with the Chicago White Sox in 1984.
Dietrich hit a two-run homer off Darvish in the first inning for an early lead.
The Cubs tied the game on Schwarber’s two-run upper-deck homer in the second.
Rizzo had a two-run single to right field in the fifth, which was bobbled by Cameron Maybin allowing another run to score for a 5-2 lead.
Darvish steadied himself after Dietrich’s homer until the fifth, when he loaded the bases with no outs. Lewis Brinson’s single brought the Marlins within 5-3. After recording the first out of the inning, Darvish allowed a two-run single to Castro, ending his night.
Earlier in the at-bat with Castro, Maddon and a trainer went to the mound to check on Darvish after a pitch, but he stayed in the game. Darvish said afterward he was dealing with a cramp.
The Cubs took a 6-5 lead in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Heyward.
Holaday’s single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth off Pedro Strop (1-0) tied the game at 6.
CUBS BULLPEN OFF TO STRONG START
The Cubs bullpen has allowed just two runs in 22 innings over the first three games of the series for a 0.82 ERA.
Mike Montgomery has appeared in all three games, pitching three scoreless innings.
CASTRO CLOSING IN ON 500 RBIS
Castro’s two RBIs gave him 499 for his career. He has gone .290 (9 for 31) with eight RBIs in six career games against his former team.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: OF Garrett Cooper (wrist) was not in the starting lineup after exiting in the fourth inning of Friday’s game after being hit by a pitch, but made a pinch-hit appearance in the eighth inning as X-rays came back negative. “It’s a sigh of relief, definitely,” Cooper said. “Definitely a little more of a scare when it happened. … Nothing is broken.”
UP NEXT
Cubs: RHP Jose Quintana will make his season debut against the Marlins on Sunday.
Marlins: LHP Dillon Peters will also make his first start.
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