Seven runners crossed the plate as the Cubs made certain they wouldn’t suffer a third straight walk-off loss to the Reds, posting a 15-7 victory.
Ten runs came in the final two innings and nine of Chicago’s 18 hits.
In fairness to Diaz, he was put into an untenable dilemma when he entered the game with the scored tied, 5-5, in the eighth.
His predecessor, Derek Law, filled the bases with no outs on two singles and a hit batsman.
Diaz replaced him and didn’t retire a batter as the Cubs sent 11 to the plate.
Nick Madrigal broke the tie with a two-run single. Pinch-hitter Miles Mastrobuoni bunted and Diaz threw wide of first base for an error. Michael Tauchman singled for two more runs to make it 9-5 and Diaz was done.
The Cubs scored three more off relief pitcher Brett Kennedy, assuring that they would gain a split of the four-game series.
With three pitchers on the COVID-19 injured list (Hunter Greene, Brandon Williamson, Ben Lively, Fernando Cruz) and Graham Ashcraft on the injured list with a sore toe, the Reds continued to shake the trees in their minor-league system for pitchers.
For this game, Carson Spiers was summoned from Double-A Chattanooga, the seventh rookie to start a game for the Reds this season.
And when Chasen Shreve followed Stiers, he was the 37th different pitcher used by the Reds this season and the 61st player.
It was a shaky start for Spiers. He gave up three runs and five hits in his first two innings, then retired the last seven he faced, five via strikeouts.
And he left with a 4-3 lead because the Reds hit three home runs in the first two innings against Cubs starter Jameson Taillon, who serves up home runs like a waiter serves soup before dinner. In his last six starts he has given up 12 homers.
TJ Friedl and Spencer Steer hit back-to-back homers in the first and Tyler Stephenson drilled a two-run homer in the second to give the Reds a 4-3 lead.
Then the game bounced back-and-forth. Cody Bellinger tied it in the sixth with a leadoff home run against Shreve, Bellinger’s third homer of the series and his 23rd overall.
The Reds recaptured the lead, 5-4, in the home half of the sixth on a single by Stephenson, his third RBI, the most for him in a game this season.
Chicago tied it, 5-5, in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Ian Happ, who seemingly could hit the Reds blind-folded and with one hand tied behind his back. The University of Cincinnati product finished with three hits and four RBI. For the series he drove in seven runs. Bellinger also collected seven RBI.
Complementing Happ was Tauchman with four hits, three RBI and three runs scored, Bellinger with two hits, three RBI and a run scored and Dansby Swanson with two hits, two RBI and a run scored. Both Swanson hits came during the seven-run eighth inning when he was 0 for 12.
It gets no easier for the Reds. They open a three-game series Monday afternoon in GABP against the recently hot Seattle Mariners, owners of first place in the American League West.
And the Reds will be shaking the trees again for a starter. Brett Kennedy was expected to start Monday, but he pitched the last two innings Sunday and gave up four runs and five hits.
MONDAY’S GAME
Mariners at Reds, 4:10 p.m., Bally Sports Ohio, 700, 1410
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