Ervin leads Reds to wild win
CHICAGO — Phillip Ervin may be a late bloomer, but the Cincinnati outfielder has arrived in the majors with bang.
Ervin hit a two-run homer to snap a tie in the seventh inning and had four RBI in his first major-league start, and the Reds rebounded from blowing a nine-run lead to defeat the Chicago Cubs 13-10 on Thursday.
Ervin, in right field in his fifth game, also had a single and double in four at-bats. On Wednesday, the 25-year-old homered as a pinch hitter for his first hit.
“I have struggled through the minors a bit, so to come up here just showing everybody I can play, it just feels good,” said Ervin, who appeared in three games in April before his recall this week from triple-A. “So I’m just trying to take it as it is and have fun right now.”
Joey Votto lofted a three-run homer in a nine-run, second-inning rally as Cincinnati raced to a 9-0 lead against Cubs starter Jon Lester on a warm day with the wind blowing out.
Ian Happ hit two solo shots and a sacrifice fly, and Alex Avila went deep and had three RBI for the Cubs, who used six home runs to erase the nine-run deficit.
“A lot of times, that’s a hard game to hold on to because you’ve lost so much momentum,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “We were able to hold the line a little bit and settle things down, and then Ervin hits the big homer to make it 11-9.”
Drew Storen (4-2) pitched a scoreless sixth for the win, then Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 23 chances. Justin Grimm (1-2), who gave up Erwin’s homer and was the second of five Cubs relievers, took the loss.
Happ, Avila, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez homered in the fourth as the Cubs went deep four times in an inning for the first time since June 2008 to cut it to 9-6.
Kyle Schwarber homered to lead off the fifth, then Anthony Rizzo and Avila drove in runs with doubles against Michael Lorenzen to tie it at 9.
The Reds sent 13 men to the plate in the second. Eugenio Suarez and Ervin each had a single and a double in the eight-hit outburst.