Jason Heyward’s solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning was the last of six homers hit by the Chicago Cubs Thursday afternoon at Wrigley. The Cubs needed all six to topple the San Diego Padres, 7-6, and salvage the final game of the teams’ three-game series.
Heyward’s blast off loser Drew Pomeranz (0-2) followed a two-run, game-tying shot by Nick Castellanos earlier in the inning. The Padres (12-12) had built a 6-4 lead on the strength of home runs by Fernando Tatis, Jr., a two-run shot in the first, and Tommy Pham, who hit a three-run homer off Cubs starter Jon Lester in the fourth.
On a blustery day with the win blowing out, Chicago slammed four solo home runs off Padre starter Cal Quantrill in the first two innings. Ian Happ led off the game with a home run. Then in the second inning, Kyle Schwarber, Willson Contreras and Nico Hoerner hit back-to-back-to-back blasts to give the Cubs a 4-3 lead.
After Pham’s homer put the Padres up 6-4, middle relievers Zach Davies of San Diego and the combination of Chicago’s Brad Wieck and Rowan Wick kept the ball in the ballpark. But in the bottom of the eighth, Hoerner singled with one out, ahead of Castellanos’ game-tying blast. With two outs in the eighth, Heyward landed one in the basket of the right-field bleachers to break the tie.
