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Castro lifts Cubs over Padres in 11 innings

Apr 18, 2015 - 11:49 PM Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Starlin Castro's walk-off single lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 7-6 win over the San Diego Padres in 11 innings on Saturday.

With the bases loaded against star closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1) and the defense rearranged with five players in the infield, Castro ripped a single through the left side to score Anthony Rizzo.

After a rough major league debut Friday, Kris Bryant reached base five times, including an RBI single and an infield hit in the 11th.

Miguel Montero hit a pair of homers and drove in three runs.

The Cubs led 6-2 entering the ninth, but Phil Coke and Hector Rondon each allowed two runs to send the game to extras. Zac Rosscup (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings to keep the Padres off the board after the ninth.

"You never panic," said Montero. That's what a winning team does. ... We never stopped against a good team."

Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks struck out eight and allowed two runs on three hits in six innings with no walks.

Padres starter Tyson Ross allowed three runs on five hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts.

Matt Kemp went deep for the first time as a Padre, and he joined Yonder Alonso and Justin Upton with two hits apiece.

After the first inning, San Diego only had one hit until the ninth, and it was off the bat of Ross. That changed when Alonso and Kemp singled off Coke to start the final inning. Rondon was called on to protect the lead but was unable to do so. Upton singled home Alonso, and Kemp scored on Will Middlebrooks' double.

The Cubs conceded a run to allow the Padres within 6-5, and Rondon was an out away from ending the game when pinch-hitter Yangervis Solarte's single scored Middlebrooks to tie the game.

"We feel like until the game is over, we're still in it, regardless of the score," said Padres manager Bud Black. "We strung some at-bats together, which is what we needed to do."

Each team had a runner reach scoring position in the 10th inning but could not score.

San Diego summoned its closer to get the game to a 12th inning. Kimbrel got Jorge Soler to ground out, but he walked Rizzo. Rizzo stole second and moved up to third on Bryant's infield single, and after David Ross walked on four pitches, Castro ended the game on the first pitch he saw.

After his 0-for-4 debut, Bryant opened the second game of his career with an error to allow Wil Myers to reach base. Myers was thrown out on Alonso's single when he tried taking an extra base, but Kemp followed that with his first home run to give San Diego a quick 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the first, Bryant reached base for the first time in his career with a walk, but Chris Coghlan stranded two when he lined out to end the inning.

Ross was through four solid innings before getting into trouble in the fifth. With two runners on base, Alonso whiffed fielding a ground ball off the bat of Rizzo. Bryant then tied the game with his first big league hit, an opposite-field single off a breaking ball down and away.

An inning later, Montero broke the 2-2 tie with a home run to the left- center field gap. It would not be his last of the day. After Castro's two-out RBI single against Brandon Maurer in the seventh, Montero hit his second homer, a deep drive into right field off Chris Rearick.

Game Notes

Chicago has not lost two in a row this season ... Castro collected his 300th career RBI with his 11th-inning single ... This was the first two-steal game of Rizzo's career ... Cubs manager Joe Maddon batted the pitcher eighth for the 10th time this season. From 1914 to 2014, the Cubs played in 15,848 games, and the pitcher batted ninth in all but one ... Sunday's rubber game will feature San Diego's Andrew Cashner and Chicago's Jon Lester.