Diamondbacks Rout Cubs in High-Scoring Victory

The Arizona Diamondbacks secured a high-scoring victory against the Cactus League-leading Cubs on Monday with a 10-2 victory at Salt River Fields.

Diamondbacks' ace Corbin Burnes took the mound for the third time this spring and continued to ramp up. His first inning began on two quick outs, striking out Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker along the way.

He then lost a bit of command, hitting Seiya Suzuki with a pitch, and walking another batter before escaping the inning.

He displayed a different pitch mix early on Monday than in previous outings, and pushed to nearly 97 mph on his cutter and sinker. Burnes spoke with Diamondbacks ON SI's Jack Sommers following his outing and commented on this surprising rise in velocity early in camp.

"Yeah, I was talking to [Brian] Kaplan today, I think this is probably the highest it's been in a couple of years. Not sure why. It could just be that the few mechanical things we've been working on and have been cleaning up, and velocity's taken off a little bit," explained Burnes.

"But, yeah, it's definitely early in camp for it to be that high, but I'm not going to complain. Everything feels good and mechanically we feel pretty clean."

Cubs starter Caleb Killian had a harder time getting through the first inning. D-backs' MVP candidate Ketel Marte knocked the club's first hit against the right-hander. He quickly advanced on an incredible mental play on a deep sacrifice fly, running all the way to third displaying good hustle.

Eugenio Suárez drove in the game's first run on a single, continuing his hot start to the spring.

Chicago responded quickly with a double from utility man Nicky Lopez. While Burnes continued to display high velocity, a center cut fastball allowed Gage Workman to ground an RBI single for Burnes' first earned run of the spring, tying the game at one.

The score continued to swing back and forth as the recently re-signed Randal Grichuk bashed a mammoth 452-foot home run to kick off the home second. The blast came at only a 19 degree launch angle, but with an exit velocity of 114.3 mph, traveling like a bullet out of the park.

Burnes remained on the mound for the start of the third, striking out Kyle Tucker for a second time before being relieved. His 3 up-downs and 47 pitches reached the team's goal for the outing. His final line of 2.1 IP, 2 K's and only 1 ER, setting him up to reach 4 up-downs and 60 pitches in his next start.

Cubs starter Calleb Killian was relieved after 2.1 IP, having allowed 2 ER and striking out 5 Arizona batters.

Jake McCarthy and Josh Naylor started the bottom of the third off strong with a single and a double respectively. Eugenio Suarez drove in McCarthy on a sacrifice fly, followed by a Gabriel Moreno RBI single, his first hit of spring, bringing the Diamondbacks' lead to 4-1.

The D-backs' closer competition continued on Monday as A.J. Puk entered the ballgame. He allowed a walk and a single, but escaped the inning without any runs scoring. He was followed by Kevin Ginkel who worked a scoreless 5th inning.

An RBI double play from one-time Diamondbacks' prospect Dansby Swanson drove in Chicago's second run of the afternoon. This came against former All-Star Joe Mantiply who was otherwise solid in the 6th.

Jorge Barrosa slugged a double against Cubs right-hander Tyson Miller, scoring Connor Kaiser. Aggressive baserunning by Barrosa and Geraldo Perdomo led to an error and an additional Diamondbacks run. Jake McCarthy also joined the scoring party with an RBI ground-rule double bringing the Arizona lead to 7-2.

The scoring continued with a Josh Naylor single to drive in McCarthy, capping off a four-run D-backs 6th inning with an 8-2 score.

Justin Martinez was greeted rudely in the 7th by the Cubs on a double from Workman, continuing a big game for the Rule 5 pick. Martinez, however, settled down immediately, striking out the next three hitters in order. The fireballer threw 15 pitches, 12 for strikes. Of 10 Cubs swings, 6 were whiffed on.

A René Pinto double led off the Diamondbacks' 8th, but it was Kristian Robinson who highlighted the inning. A 411-foot home run from the right fielder tacked on two more runs, bringing the score to the final total of 10-2.

Kyle Amendt, who is among the candidates for Arizona's final bullpen spots, closed out the ballgame. He struck out one, and secured a 10-2 D-backs victory against the Cubs.

Torey Lovullo spoke to media, including Diamondbacks ON SI's Jack Sommers, following the game.

"It was nice to get Corbin that third up-down and he ran his pitch count up there," said the D-backs' manager speaking on Burnes' outing. "We were debating whether or not if he got one or two batters [in the third inning] and then the pitch count was exactly where we wanted it."

"I'm not sure what he said to you guys, but I know he probably from the look of it felt like he could be better as he's walking off the mound, but I told him he threw some really good changeups, that's encouraging, but overall it's just exactly what we wanted him to do, get to that number."

The team was aided by a few key defensive plays, something that they pride themselves on throughout the organization. Lovullo was also keyed in on this aspect of the win, specifically highlighting the D-backs' double play behind Joe Mantiply.

"I thought the key play of the game was the first and third no-outs with Mantiply. He rolls up a double play, makes it 4-2, little things like that kind of excite me because you get your pitcher off the mound, the lead is still intact, and it's not a big crooked number, so Geno made a really nice play and it was a great turn by Ketel."

The Diamondbacks will enjoy an off day on Tuesday, something which isn't common during spring training. Play will resume on Wednesday when they take on the San Francisco Giants at Salt River Fields at 1:10 p.m. MST.