Carlos Pena had a pair of hits, including a prodigious home run, to help lead the Cubs past the D-backs, 7-5, on Sunday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.
The D-backs grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second on a Ryan Roberts RBI single before the Cubs tied things up in the third when Darwin Barney doubled home Fernando Perez. Brandon Allen added his first homer of the spring in the fourth.
Pena’s leadoff homer keyed a two-run fourth as the Cubs began to build their lead.
“Pena is starting to swing the bat,” Cubs bench coach Pat Listach said. “His work with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo is paying off. That’s the longest home run that I’ve seen him hit. He’s starting to figure it out.”
Chicago was aided by some poor defense by the D-backs, who committed three errors leading to three unearned runs.
Braden Looper started and pitched well for the Cubs as he allowed one run on five hits over 3 2/3 innings and helped his cause in the fourth with an RBI double to center.
“I felt pretty good. It was one of those days I definitely had to work really hard,” Looper said. “Nothing came easy. It was good to get out there and be in some innings that were, I don’t want to say stressful innings, but with runners on and having to make pitches and work out of the stretch, because last game that was one of the things I hadn’t done in a while, was work out of the stretch. … I got that ironed out, and it felt good.”
The game was briefly stopped in the second inning when a false alarm prompted an automatic public address announcement calling for fans to evacuate the stadium. The two teams continued to play through the announcement and the alarm was reset.
“The funny thing was, I actually stepped off because I wanted to go to a different pitch,” said Looper, who stepped off the rubber during the warning. “Once I stepped off, I think the umpire thought I was listening to the announcement. I wasn’t even listening. Catcher Geovany Soto called a pitch, and I was thinking was that what I really want to throw? It had nothing to do with that, but it kind of seemed like it did. It took a little while for the announcement to stop after that, too.”
Up next for D-backs: The D-backs, who have played more games than any other team in the Cactus League, get their lone off-day on Monday. Barry Enright will get the start when they get back to action on Tuesday against the Giants at Salt River Fields. Enright would appear to be the front-runner to grab a spot in the rotation with the recent injury to Zach Duke, who has a broken hand and cannot throw for at least four weeks.
Up next for Cubs: The Cubs reunite after a weekend of split-squad games and hit the road to take on the Mariners in Peoria, Ariz. Matt Garza will make his third start, and he’ll be searching for some consistency after some streaky performances. Garza allowed six earned runs in 2 2/3 innings his last time out, following a pair of shutout innings in his second start and a five-run, two-inning outing in his Cubs debut. It’s the only game of seven in a four-day span that is not a split-squad game for the Cubs.