Kris Bryant demolished Reds' pitching with three home runs and two doubles to power the Chicago Cubs to a 11-8 win.
Bryant's 16 total bases set a Cubs' franchise record.
Jake Arrieta didn't no hit the Reds. Dan Straily didn't no-hit the Cubs.
There were plenty of hits to go around and the Cubs got more than their share while the Reds were more efficient with theirs.
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The Reds went to work on Arrieta, who pitched a no-hitter against them the last time they saw him. Arrieta had a 0.24 ERA in five night games coming into the series.
The Reds raised that in the first inning.
Billy Hamilton walked and stole second and third to improve his total to 19, third in the National League. Joey Votto walked and stole second as Jay Bruce struck out. Adam Duvall doubled to bring in Hamilton and Votto.
Bryant hit his 18th home run off Straily in the third. Bruce singled home Zack Cozart in the bottom. Bruce is second in the NL with59 RBI.
Bryant was at it again in the fourth inning. Chris Coghlan and Arrieta hit one out singles off Straily. Ben Zobrist foreshadowed the inning with a fly to deep center. Hayward's second hit scored Coghlan but Hamilton made a spectacular play that ended up all for naught. Hayward's drive was headed toward the gap in rightcenter. Right-handed throwing Adam Duvall was closest to it but Hamilton cut it off and held Arrieta at second. For Duvall to hold the runner he would need to turn his body to make the throw. Bryant wasted the play with a long home run into the upper deck in left. It was his 20th and gives him 55 RBI to move ahead of teammate, Rizzo for third in the NL behind Bruce.
"He's very impressive," Bruce said.."He burst on the scene. He's been hitting ever since. I think I heard he's the only player to hit three homers and two doubles in a game. He hit a foul homer too (just foul before third HR). He had a nice night."
"Straily didn't have a lot of quality stuff. I counted 20 balls that were hit hard," Bryan Price said. "We have to pitch inside. We have to get the ball down. They are really comfortable against our staff right now. We have to do a better job."
After 11 decent starts, Straily has struggled lately. He pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing a career-high seven earned runs on nine hits and three walks. In his last three starts, Straily has allowed 17 earned runs in his last 13 innings.
"It was terrible execution," Straily said. " It was terrible the whole night. I had enough time in here (clubhouse) to watch the whole time I was out there. I would try to go down and away and i'd put it up and over the plate. It was terrible pitches. Terrible execution is easy to fix. I'm going to forget about this and fix it."
Jumbo Diaz just up from Louisville finished the inning stranding two runners.
Michael Lorenzen started the fifth with two quick outs but Arrieta hit a 99 mph pitch into the rightfield bleachers for his second home run of the season.
Hamilton walked against Arrieta tried to pick Hamilton off but threw it away. Votto followed with his 12th home run. Coming into the at bat, Votto had one extra base hit, a double in his last 65 plate appearances that included 13 strikeouts and 15 walks.
Arrieta lasted five innings and only gave up four hits but he walked five, threw a wild pitch and had the throwing error. It was the fifth time he lasted a season low five innings but the five earned runs are a season high.
"He still had his stuff. He wasn't locating very well," Bruce said.. "We had some walks and put some hits together. That's baseball."
The Reds got closer against Trevor Cahill in the sixth. Jose Peraza walked and stole second. Tucker Barnhart doubled to make it an 8-6 game. Former Red Travis Wood put out the fire. Duvall doubled again with one out. Pedro Strop replaced Wood. Eugenio Suarez fly to center put Duvall on third and he scored on a wild pitch by Strop to make it 8-7.
Bryant hit his third home run of the game, his second in the upper deck and his 21st of the season off Ross Ohlendorf, who got five outs in a row before the blast. Rizzo followed with his 18th to extend the Cubs lead to 10-7. Bryant's five hits are a career-high.
Price was frustrated with his pitchers but a reporter asked him about Kris Bryant's night.
"That's a Tommy LaSorda - Dave Kingman question," Price said about a LaSorda blowup when Kingman had a good night against the Dodgers. "Instead of tearing the place up, I'm going to acknowledge that he had a good game. I hope to never see it again."
The Cubs added an unearned run in the ninth off Blake Wood.
Votto hit his 13th home run off Joel Peralta in the ninth. It is his 12th career multi-home run game.
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