Dansby Swanson slammed a three-run homer in the five-run first inning and the Chicago Cubs went on to an 11-5 win against the visiting Washington Nationals in the opener of their three-game series on Friday afternoon.
Nico Hoerner doubled, homered, drove in two runs and scored twice, Reese McGuire singled and homered, Ian Happ homered and scored four times, and Pete Crow-Armstrong had two singles and two sacrifice flies for the Cubs (81-60), who have won three of four.
Chicago starter Javier Assad (2-1) allowed four runs and three hits over 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out four and walked two.
Luis Garcia Jr. homered and Daylen Lile had two triples, two RBIs and scored twice for Washington (56-84), which was riding a three-game winning streak.
Nationals right-hander Jake Irvin (8-11) lost his fourth straight start after surrendering seven runs and five hits over 3 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking four.
Crow-Armstrong’s first sacrifice fly gave Chicago a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Hoerner followed with a wind-blown bloop double to left, scoring Seiya Suzuki from first to make it 2-0. Following a hit batter, Swanson drove a two-strike fastball into the seats in left-center field for a 5-0 lead.
McGuire took advantage of the wind blowing out to right by going deep to lead off the second and stretch the lead to 6-0.
The Nationals did not have a hit until Lile hit a fly ball to deep center with two outs in the fourth and Crow-Armstrong lost it in the sun, resulting in a triple. Garcia then slammed a two-run homer over the right-field fence to cut it to 6-2.
The Cubs loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth and Willi Castro lined a ground-rule double down the left-field line to extend the lead back to 8-2.
Assad departed with runners on first and second and one out in the sixth and Lile greeted Cale Thielbar with a two-run triple into the left-center field gap to cut it to 8-4.
Lile then scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 8-5.
Crow-Armstrong added his second sacrifice fly of the game to make it 9-5 in sixth and Hoerner followed with a solo home run to left for a 10-5 lead.
Happ homered in the eighth to complete the scoring.
