"I thought our guys came out of the box today ready to continue what they started late in the game last night," manager Mike Matheny said. "I sensed an edge. There's no doubt. They left here with an edge, and they showed up this morning with an edge. They responded perfectly, just how I hoped it would."
What had happened earlier in the series seemed to shake some life into this club, which had lost 10 of its first 17 games this month to slow down its pursuit of a third straight division title. Tommy Pham and Stephen Piscotty hit first-inning home runs, the latter coming after a hard slide by Jason Heyward prevented the Cubs from turning an inning-ending double play.