• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Soriano homers twice as Cubs down Diamondbacks

Jul 14, 2012 - 2:44 AM Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Alfonso Soriano smacked four hits, including a pair of home runs, drove in five and scored three times, leading the Chicago Cubs to an 8-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game set.

"I swung very good today. Those four days (All-Star break) I cleared my mind and my body, too. The game I had, I hope I have a couple of more like that," Soriano said.

Paul Maholm (7-6) surrendered a run on six hits and a walk in seven innings for the Cubs, who have won three of their last four games.

Anthony Rizzo tallied two hits and scored twice.

Ian Kennedy (6-8) was shelled for six runs on seven hits and two walks in five-plus innings for the Diamondbacks, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

"He was unable to execute his pitches, especially against Soriano," Arizona manager Bob Gibson said of Kennedy's start.

The D-backs struck first with a run in the opening frame. Willie Bloomquist led off with a double, moved to third on Aaron Hill's bunt single and crossed the plate when Justin Upton grounded into a double play.

But aided by Soriano, Chicago scored eight unanswered runs to surge ahead. They plated a run in the second, another in the fourth, three in the fifth, one in the sixth and two more in the seventh.

Chicago tied the game in the second when Soriano doubled to start the frame, moved to third on a fly out and finally scored on a wild pitch from Kennedy.

The Cubs then went ahead in the fourth after Soriano belted a solo shot over the wall in left to make it a 2-1 game.

David DeJesus worked a one-out walk in the fifth and after Starlin Castro flied out, Rizzo singled to center before Soriano came up next and cracked a three-run blast to center, extending the lead to 5-1.

Maholm executed the suicide squeeze to plate Geovany Soto in the sixth, while Soriano pounded an RBI ground-rule double in the seventh before a fielding error by Paul Goldschmidt at first allowed another runner to score to stretch the margin to 8-1.

Game Notes

The start of the contest was delayed by 3 hours and 40 minutes due to rain...Time of game: 2:37...Arizona was 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position while Chicago finished 2-for-13.