Soriano’s shot:
It was little surprise that it was Soriano who got the Cubs’ offense going against the Diamondbacks with a two-run homer in the first.
It was his 18th career homer against the Diamondbacks, and he has a .333 lifetime average (49 for 147) against them. He’s done most of the damage in the past seven seasons. Since 2007, he’s hitting .362 (42 for 115) with 17 homers. On Friday, he might have received some help from the wind. “When he hit it, I honest-to-God thought it was a pop-up to the infield,” Miley said. “I knew he barreled it, but I thought he popped it up. That’s just the way it goes.” Hairston’s slam: With the bases loaded, Miley tried to throw a 1-1 slider inside to Hairston, but the pitch had little movement and hung over the plate. Hairston crushed it out to left field for his third career grand slam.
“You try not to get too excited in that situation, but the wind was blowing out, so I told myself not to get cheated,” Hairston said. “I might have had a different swing if there were two outs, but with one out, I knew I had a little room where, if I just missed it, it'd be a sac fly. I'm glad I was able to hit it down the line.” Garza’s day: Garza missed most of the first two months with a lat strain, but his start on Friday was his third of the season and his best yet. He gave up just two runs on six hits, walking none. “He’s a good pitcher,” Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt said. “He was locating his pitches. He was getting ahead, and he was making good pitches. He kept it simple, fastballs to both sides of the plate, up and down, mixed in his breaking stuff and kept the balls off the barrel.”
Garza’s fastball topped out at 96 mph. View from the press box: With right-hander Brandon McCarthy’s condition uncertain — he intimated Thursday that he was going through some arm issues — and Miley’s recent ineffectiveness, the Diamondbacks’ rotation seems to be in a tenuous position. The good news is they have one option ready in Triple-A Reno with Tyler Skaggs and another working his way back in right-hander Daniel Hudson. The Diamondbacks’ depth has been tested in most other areas this season. We’ll see if the starting pitching will be, as well.