Baez ties career high with 23rd homer, Cubs beat Padres
CHICAGO — He’s already an All-Star, but Javier Baez keeps finding ways to shine even brighter.
Baez tied his career high with his 23rd homer and took over the National League lead with 84 RBIs, helping the Chicago Cubs defeat the San Diego Padres 5-4 on Friday. The infielder also tripled and threw out a runner at home in the eighth inning as the Cubs survived a late bullpen meltdown.
Baez, who’s batting .299, is at the top of National League MVP candidates, at least as far as his teammates are concerned.
Baez credits “baseball instinct” for his breakout season.
“It’s just reacting to what you see, to be honest,” Baez said. “I don’t plan it, but as soon as I see it, I just react to it.”
Ben Zobrist drove in two runs for the NL Centralleading Cubs, who entered one game ahead of Milwaukee. Jose Quintana (10-7) allowed
CHI: 63-46 overall SDP: 43-69 overall
one run and four hits in six innings, leaving with a 3-1 lead.
Pedro Strop nearly wasted a 5-2 advantage, allowing Cory Spangenberg’s RBI double and Travis Jankowski’s run-scoring grounder before third baseman David Bote threw out Spangenberg at the plate trying to score on Manuel Margot’s grounder. Baez had thrown out Jankowski at the plate in the eighth when Jankowski tried to score on Hunter Renfroe’s grounder to second.
Strop struck out pinchhitter Austin Hedges with a man on for his sixth save in nine chances.
“I thought it was a really good battle from our guys,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “We had a lot of really good swings, some good at-bats. They made some big plays on us late in the game.
Tyson Ross (6-9) gave up three runs and six hits in five innings as the Padres lost for the eighth time in their last nine games. San Diego is an NL-worst 43-69.
Baez led off the second with an opposite-field drive into the right-field bleachers, and Zobrist hit a sacrifice fly in the third.
Christian Villanueva’s 20th homer cut the gap in the fourth, but Zobrist grounded into a run-scoring forceout in the fifth and Rizzo homered off Robert Stock for a 4-1 lead in the seventh.
Spangenberg scored when reliever Steve Cishek threw Margot’s comebacker into center field for an error in an eighth, an inning that ended when Brandon Kintzler — making his second appearance since his trade from Washington — got Villanueva to line out with the bases loaded.