Parra leads off:
After the long rain delay, the Diamondbacks’ Gerardo Parra quickly sprung into action once the game began.
On a 1-0 pitch from Cubs right-hander Jeff Samardzija, Parra drilled a home run to deep right-center field. It was his fourth leadoff home run this season and fifth homer overall.
Parra hit a 94 mph fastball that was up and over the middle of the plate. Cubs strike back: The Cubs didn’t take long to respond against Diamondbacks right-hander Ian Kennedy.
They also got some help from the Diamondbacks’ defense. Leading off the bottom of the first, David DeJesus hit a deep drive to left field, and Jason Kubel appeared to have it in his sights as he ranged back toward the wall.
But Kubel reached out and had the ball hit off his glove, and DeJesus cruised into second with what was ruled a double.
After Starlin Castro was hit by a pitch and Anthony Rizzo walked, the Cubs had the bases loaded with nobody out.
Alfonso Soriano’s sac fly tied the game, Nate Schierholtz’s double inside the first-base line gave the Cubs the lead and Wellington Castillo’s RBI ground out made it 3-1. Kennedy settles down: But that was all the Cubs would get off of Kennedy for a while.
Starting with Castillo’s groundout, Kennedy would retire 17 consecutive batters, a career high.
The streak was broken on Schierholtz’s solo home that tied the game again in the top of the bottom of the seventh. Diamondbacks rally: After loading the bases and coming away empty-handed in the second inning, the Diamondbacks loaded them again in the seventh.
It again appeared they were going to come up empty, though, when Cubs reliever James Russell jumped ahead 0-2 on the lefty-hitting Kubel.
But Kubel drilled a hanging slider on a 1-2 pitch into the left-center field gap to clear the bases and give the Diamondbacks a short-lived 4-3 lead. Goldschmidt’s slam: After a walk to Willie Bloomquist, a ground-rule double by Parra and another walk to Didi Gregorius, Goldschmidt drove a hanging slider way out for his first career grand slam.
Prior to that, Goldschmidt was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and a walk.