Chicago Cubs at Tampa Bay Rays

· Major League Baseball

Chicago Cubs

33-35, 15-22 Away

Final
4 - 3

Tampa Bay Rays

32-36, 18-23 Home

Bellinger hits 3-run homer in the 7th, Neris struggles again in 9th before Cubs beat Rays 4-3

Cubs closer Héctor Neris allowed José Caballero’s solo homer in the ninth before earning his 10th save in 13 chances. The right-hander allowed a single to Ben Rortvedt and walked Taylor Walls with one out before getting a fielder's choice grounder from Yandy Díaz and a flyball from Brandon Lowe.

Neris was tagged for a season-high four runs in the ninth in Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Rays, including Lowe’s game-ending homer.

“Héctor is going to compete, you can count on that,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Things aren’t going right, you just got to keep making pitches and you got to have a really short memory in that job, right? We know Hector is going to do that."

Rays manager Kevin Cash said Lowe was probably the right guy to have up in that situation.

“It's interesting how that inning unfolded with what took place last night,” Cash said. “Got a splitter and just missed it.”

Seiya Suzuki also went deep for the Cubs, who are 6-13 since May 22.

Tyson Miller (1-0) got the win by striking out two in a perfect 1 1/3 innings. Since being acquired in a trade with Seattle on May 14, the righty has given up one earned run in 10 1/3 innings.

Tampa Bay got also a homer from Jose Siri. The Rays have lost 14 of 21.

Garrett Cleavinger (4-1) replaced Aaron Civale with one on and two outs in the seventh. After hitting pinch-hitter Patrick Wisdom, the lefty allowed Bellinger's ninth homer.

“Definitely felt amazing,” Bellinger said. “I was frustrated with my previous at-bat. Got another opportunity and didn't want it to happen again."

Bellinger struck out to end the fifth with two on.

“Three-run homers change games, and that swing certainly changed the game,” Counsell said. “It was a big swing at a time we need it.”

Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead on Siri’s solo homer off Javier Assad in the fourth. Siri had been 0 for 11 with eight strikeouts in his previous three games before getting a second-inning double.

Suzuki tied it at 1 on his eighth homer during the fourth.

Civale, on his 29th birthday, had his winless start streak reach 11. He allowed one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Assad gave up two runs and five hits over 4 2/3 innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cubs: INF Nico Hoerner (small right-hand fracture) returned to the starting lineup and went 1 for 4 with two steals. The Cubs had six steals overall.

Rays: LF Randy Arozarena (right hamstring tightness) pinch-hit for the second straight game. Cash said he will start on Thursday. ... LHP Jeffrey Springs (Tommy John surgery) gave up one hit and struck out three in two scoreless innings for Triple-A Durham in his second start since being shut down May 25 due to lat tightness.

Cubs LHP Justin Steele (0-3, 4.06 ERA) and Rays RHP Taj Bradley (1-4, 5.17 ERA) are Thursday night’s starters.

How can I watch Chicago Cubs vs. Tampa Bay Rays?

TV Channel: Cubs at Rays 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.tv.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Rays: 45.7%

Cubs: 54.3%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	B. Lowe flied out to center.
	9th Inning	Díaz grounded out to second, Walls to second, DeLuca to third.
	9th Inning	Walls walked.
	9th Inning	DeLuca stole second.
	9th Inning	DeLuca ran for Rortvedt
	9th Inning	Rortvedt singled to center.

Statistics

CHC		TB
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
2	Hit By Pitch	1
14	Ground Balls	9
8	Strikeouts	9
4	Runs Batted In	3
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
9	Hits	7
6	Stolen Bases	2
2	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
4	Runs	3
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
36	At Bats	34
2	Home Runs	2
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
10	Runners Left On Base	16
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	2
14	Fly Balls	16
0	Caught Stealing	0
144	Pitches	149
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
15	Total Bases	15
40	Plate Appearances	38
324.0	Projected Home Runs	324.0
2	Extra Base Hits	4
6.3	Runs Created	5.0
.250	Batting Average	.206
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.417	Slugging Percentage	.441
.389	Secondary Average	.382
.325	On Base Percentage	.289
.742	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.731
1.0	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.6
6.3	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	5.0
37.0	Batter Rating	31.0
18.0	At Bats Per Home Run	17.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.60	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.92
.167	Isolated Power	.235
0.25	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.33
.050	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.079
.139	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.176
8.0	Runs Produced	6.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.5	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.2
84.8	MLB Rating	79.5
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0