CHICAGO — Pinch-hitter David Bote smashed a grand slam against Ryan Madson with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday night.
Bote’s long drive to center field came after Washington’s Max Scherzer and Chicago’s Cole Hamels delivered simply dominant starts.
Madson (2-5) came in with a 3-0 lead to start the ninth and quickly ran into trouble.
He gave up an infield single to Jason Heyward with one out and hit Albert Almora with a pitch. Madson then retired Kyle Schwarber on a foul pop before hitting Contreras to load the bases, but Bote — who was born in Longmont and played at Faith Christian High School — drove a 2-2 pitch well beyond the center-field wall.