Seven innings, three singles
Kevin Gausman gave Arizona nothing. Three hits, all of them singles. One walk. Six strikeouts across seven scoreless innings in Phoenix on Monday night, and the Chicago Cubs walked away with a 7-0 win that never looked like slipping.
The Diamondbacks got one runner past first base all evening. Corbin Carroll drew a walk with one out in the fourth, then stole second and stole third. Geraldo Perdomo grounded out to end the inning. That was the whole of Arizona’s night against Gausman.
It was his fourth start since the Cubs picked him up at the trade deadline, and it moved him to 7-11 on the season. Ryan Zeferjahn and Caleb Thielbar handled the last two innings without conceding, completing Chicago’s sixth shutout of the year.
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Conforto and Kelly break it open
Arizona starter Merrill Kelly had held the line at 2-0 into the sixth. He left after Pedro Ramirez punched a two-out single, and Michael Conforto met Taylor Clarke’s second pitch with a 431-foot shot to right. Carson Kelly followed straight away, 392 feet to left. Back-to-back, 4-0, and the game was gone.
Conforto has now homered in consecutive games and in three of his past eight. The Cubs have hit 12 home runs in four games. Kelly finished with three runs and five hits allowed in 5 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking three, and dropped to 8-12.
Chicago had opened the scoring back in the second, Ian Happ singling and coming home on Ramirez’s triple. Conforto scored on Seiya Suzuki’s double in the fifth. Two more arrived in the seventh, Michael Busch walking, Alex Bregman singling, Happ doubling one in and Nico Hoerner adding a sacrifice fly.
Runs piling up on one side, drying up on the other
The Cubs have now scored 26 unanswered runs across two games, going back to a 19-2 rout in Seattle on Sunday. They have won two in a row after dropping three straight.
Arizona had taken three of their previous four. On Monday they managed five hits, every one a single, and were shut out for the ninth time this season. They are 3-4 since losing second baseman Ketel Marte to injury, and Chicago has beaten them in all four meetings this year.
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