Eugenio Suarez's big night has Arizona Diamondbacks up on Chicago Cubs

The first five innings of Friday’s Diamondbacks-Cubs game were action-packed, and highlighted by a pair of Eugenio Suarez two-run home runs. Arizona led 6-1 after six, with two doubles from Alek Thomas and three hits from Pavin Smith.

Neither Thomas and Smith started Opening Day.

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning with Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly trying to find consistent control. Kelly walked the leadoff hitter Dansby Swanson, who stole second. Nico Hoerner reached on an error by shortstop Geraldo Perdomo and Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled into left-center field, scoring Swanson and moving Hoerner to third base.

The Cubs were in business for another big inning, the likes of which they had on Opening Day, but Kelly escaped further trouble when former Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly grounded to Perdomo, who threw home to Jose Herrera for the tag of Hoerner at the plate.

Kelly then retired Ian Happ on a pop to Perdomo.

Avoiding the big inning seemed to wake up the Diamondbacks bats in the bottom of the second. Smith opened with a single, and Suarez followed with his second home run in as many nights, a 436-foot bomb to left-center.

Thomas followed with a double, but the Diamondbacks couldn’t add to the lead.

Smith led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, then Suarez provided an encore. He launched a Jameson Taillon pitch into the left field seats for another home run.

Thomas doubled, then came home on Perdomo’s single to right field. The Diamondbacks had two errors through five innings, but Kelly got through five innings with one run allowed on two hits.

Kelly finished his night by recording one out in the sixth before giving way to Ryan Thompson.

Kelly allowed four hits, just one run while walking four and striking out one.

Smith’s third hit was a ground rule double to drive in Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the bottom of the fifth.

The Diamondbacks’ lineup had three new players in it who didn’t start on Opening Day, with Pavin Smith at designated hitter for Randal Grichuk, Alek Thomas in center field for Jake McCarthy and José Herrera at catcher for Gabriel Moreno.

The switch to Herrera was most notable, as Moreno figures to get a giant share of the playing time behind the plate. Manager Torey Lovullo said Moreno caught starting pitcher Corbin Burnes’ game on Wednesday at Salt River Fields, giving him two straight days of work, and Lovullo didn’t want Moreno to catch three days in a row for the moment.

“I’ve learned some hard lessons over the eight years of being a manager here, where players in the first week of the season tend to come up with these nagging injuries and get banged up,” Lovullo said before Friday’s game. “So I’m going to try to do a better job of getting guys days off in that first spin.

“I don’t want people to go from zero to 60. I’ll ease into them playing every single day. We know who the everyday players are. Especially catching, it’s a very, very demanding position. I don’t want Gabi to go that hard this early.”

Lovullo said he learned from an early hamstring injury to Thomas last season, and Thomas never really got things going over the course of 2024 when he played in just 39 major league games.

“You’ll see guys get a day off as a DH,” Lovullo said. “I’m going to just apply things the best way I know how to keep guys healthy the first three or four weeks of the season. There’s a huge ramp-up of injuries in April. We try to stay out of that bucket.”

Cubs at Diamondbacks, 5:10 p.m., Cox, Ch. 34

Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (11-10, 4.71)* vs. Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (0-0, 0.00).

At Chase Field: Pfaadt emerged as the Diamondbacks’ choice for the starting rotation after what was essentially a competition for one spot in spring training. A season-ending injury to Jordan Montgomery, the decision to move Ryne Nelson to the bullpen and Pfaadt’s solid spring training performance overall helped him earn the job. Pfaadt maintained throughout spring training that starting was his clear preference and not coming out of the bullpen, and he backed it up with four solid outings out of five in spring training. On Friday it was announced that Pfaadt and the club had agreed to a five-year contract extension, the club locking up Pfaadt for the long term as he heads into his prime. Imanaga was an All-Star in his rookie year of 2024, and went 15-3 with a 2.91 earned run average in 29 starts. The Cubs will rely heavily on the veteran from Japan again this season, and Imanaga got 2025 off to a good start with four innings of scoreless and hitless ball in Tokyo against the Dodgers earlier this month. He walked four in that outing.

* — Stats from 2024.

Sunday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (3-4, 5.04)* vs. Cubs LHP Matthew Boyd (2-2, 2.72)*.

Monday: Off.

Tuesday: At New York, 4:05 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Corbin Burnes (15-9, 2.92)* vs. Yankees RHP Will Warren (0-3, 10.32)*.

Wednesday: At New York, 4:05 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (0-1, 9.00) vs. Yankees RHP Carlos Carrasco (3-10, 5.64 with Guardians)* or LHP Carlos Rodón (1-0, 1.69).

* — Stats from 2024.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Merrill Kelly pitches into the 6th, offense provides plenty of support

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Eugenio Suarez’s big night has Arizona Diamondbacks up on Chicago Cubs

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