Quintana 7 scoreless innings lift Cubs win over Marlins

Jose Quintana pitched seven scoreless innings, and Javier Baez blasted an opposite-field, 439-foot home run as the Chicago Cubs defeated the host Miami Marlins 4-0 on Tuesday night. Quintana (2-1) allowed six hits and no walks, striking out seven and extending his scoreless streak to 14 innings.

Against Miami, Quintana threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of 27 batters. He retired nine straight hitters from the first to the fourth innings, and he had an 8-6 groundball-to-fly-out ratio. He also picked up 15 swing-and-miss strikes. Relievers Brandon Kintzler and Pedro Strop completed the seven-hit shutout as Miami never got a runner past second base.

Baez, who is hitting .314, went 3-for-4, including two singles and his fifth homer of the season. Miami starter Pablo Lopez (1-3) lost his third straight start, allowing five hits, one walk and two runs in five innings. He struck out six.

Chicago opened the scoring in the third. David Bote hit an opposite-field double off the bottom off the wall in right, and lefty-swinging Daniel Descalso pulled a two-out RBI single, driving a 1-2 changeup through a Marlins shift. The Cubs stretched their lead to 2-0 in the fourth. Baez stroked an opposite-field single to right, went to third on Jason Heyward's hit-and-run single and scored on Bote's broken-bat groundout.

Baez's homer in the top of the eighth gave Chicago a 3-0 lead, but Miami threatened to tie the score in the bottom of the frame. With two on and two outs, Jorge Alfaro golfed a low sinker about 405 feet to centre, where Albert Almora ran it down on the warning track. Chicago stretched its lead to 4-0, scoring a run without a hit. Bote walked on a full count and advanced on reliever Sergio Romo's wild pitch and two fly outs, the last of which was an RBI off the bat of Ben Zobrist.

(With inputs from agencies.)