(CHICAGO) – Yu Darvish finally had a reason to celebrate at Wrigley Field. Darvish tossed six innings of two-hit, shutout ball to earn his first win at the iconic ballpark as a Cub and lead Chicago past the Cincinnati Reds 5-2 on Wednesday. Kris Bryant and Addison Russell homered for the only hits off Sonny Gray (5-6) as Chicago won for the fifth time in six games. LINKC.
Entering Wednesday, Darvish was 0-5 with a 5.50 ERA in 13 starts at home after signing a six-year, $126 million contract with Chicago in February 2018. Darvish (3-4) also won for the first time anywhere since April 27 at Arizona as he struck out seven, walked none and hit two batters. The right-hander had 12 no-decisions and a loss in his previous 13 starts. Jason Heyward drove in two insurance runs with a double as the NL Central leaders took two of three from the Reds to win just their second series since sweeping St. Louis on June 7-9. Craig Kimbrel pitched a perfect ninth for his fourth save in five chances. Gray nearly matched Darvish, allowing just two hits while striking out eight and walking none through six innings. Nick Senzel and Yasiel Puig drove in runs in the eighth off Brandon Kintlzer, but the Reds lost for the sixth time in eight games.