Miguel Amaya went 3-for-4 with a grand slam and five RBIs to lead the host Chicago Cubs to a 10-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the rubber game of their three-game series on Thursday afternoon.
It was the first grand slam of Amaya’s two-year career and his sixth home run of the season. Dansby Swanson went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases. two runs scored and an RBI. Nico Hoerner also went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored for Chicago, which won for the fourth time in its last six games.
Cody Bellinger had two hits, including a double, to go with an RBI and a run scored, and Pete Crow-Armstrong added a two-run double for the Cubs, who finished with 13 hits.
Justin Steele (4-5) picked up the win after allowing two runs on four hits over seven innings. He struck out 10 and didn’t walk a batter.
Spencer Torkelson homered and Colt Keith had two hits and a run scored for Detroit. Kenta Maeda (2-6), taking over the bulk role after Tyler Holton pitched a 1-2-3 first as the opener, took the loss, yielding six runs on nine hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out six.
Chicago took a 4-0 lead in the second on Amaya’s grand slam, a 399-foot drive to left that drove in Seiya Suzuki, Hoerner and Swanson, who had all singled to load the bases.
The Cubs extended the lead to 5-0 in the third on an RBI groundout by Hoerner, driving in Bellinger, who had doubled. They made it 6-0 an inning later on a two-out single by Bellinger, driving in Ian Happ, who had doubled off the wall in center.
Detroit cut the lead to 6-2 in the seventh on Torkelson’s two-run homer after Keith had singled.
Chicago broke the game open in the bottom of the seventh with four runs off reliever Joey Wentz, highlighted by Crow-Armstrong’s two-run double into the gap in left-center and RBI singles by Swanson and Amaya.