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CINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati Reds were no-hit by Jake Arrieta on Thursday and had only five hits against Jon Lester the following day. But one powerful swing by Eugenio Suarez on Saturday night woke the Reds' offense from its slumber. Suarez and Adam Duvall each hit three-run home runs as Cincinnati's offense broke out of its slump during a 13-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs before a sellout crowd of 41,660 at Great American Ball Park.
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The Cubs led 3-2 in the sixth when Suarez hit his fifth home run on the first pitch from starter John Lackey with two runners aboard putting Cincinnati ahead to stay.
Suarez tied a career-high with four RBIs. Lackey (3-1) was charged with six earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.
"We needed something to light the fuse," said manager Bryan Price. "(The Suarez homer) didn't just give us the lead, it ignited the entire bench. If you were in the dugout, you would have felt it. Everyone kind of exhaled."
Cincinnati erupted for a season-high 15 hits and a season-high 13 runs, including four homers. Chicago (13-5) pitchers had allowed only 11 runs in their previous seven games combined.
"That's what sparked us, Suarez's homer," said left fielder Adam Duvall, who along with Scott Schebler hit back-to-back homers off Trevor Cahill in the seven-run sixth inning which put the Reds ahead 9-3.
It was the first time the Reds hit three homers in an inning since May 21, 2012.
"Crazy game," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "But if we come back and win the series tomorrow, it will be OK."
Chicago got a couple runs back in the seventh on RBI singles by Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward. But Joey Votto's two-run homer in the seventh off Neil Ramirez put Cincinnati (9-9) ahead 11-5.
The Reds' bullpen entered Saturday's game with a 6.89 ERA, resulting in the feeling that every run was crucial.
The Cubs threatened to rally in the eighth when they had the bases loaded against Tony Cingrani, but Suarez scooped up Kris Bryant's hard grounder for the final out.
"For me, that's the play of the day," Price said. "The bases were loaded. They had (Anthony) Rizzo on deck."
Blake Wood (2-0) earned the victory for Cincinnati.
Addison Russell, who had been hitting into tough luck all series with five line-drive outs, crushed an 0-1 pitch from Straily and sent it 420 feet into the second deck in left to put the Cubs ahead 1-0 in the second.
Lackey retired the first nine batters he faced before Zack Cozart doubled leading off the fourth. Cozart would trot home with the tying run when Russell made a diving stop on Suarez's grounder but bounced his throw past Rizzo into the camera well.
Phillips' double into the left-center field gap drove home Suarez to put the Reds ahead 2-1, although Phillips was thrown out trying to reach third on a relay by Russell.
"I felt pretty good," said Lackey. "I had pretty good stuff for the most part. The three-run homer got me. They had a couple of two-strike hits. There's a way to avoid that. Sometimes you can throw too many strikes."
Dexter Fowler's fifth-inning RBI double down the right-field line came on Straily's 90th pitch, tying the score 2-2.
Chicago regained the lead when Bryant singled home Fowler, ending Straily's evening after he allowed three runs over 97 pitches in 4 2/3 innings.
"It was looking good," Maddon said. "That went away very quickly. I thought Johnny (Lackey) was outstanding, and they had a seven-run inning. His stuff was good. He looked fresh, looked fine. There was no indication. They just got us tonight."
But following Suarez's homer, the floodgates opened for the Reds' hitters.
"You see it happen, guys were feeding off each other," said Price. "They all had a confidence that they could follow suit. It was a nice little uprising."
NOTES: Reds RHP Alfredo Simon will start Sunday's series finale against the Cubs. He was scratched from his last start because of right biceps tendinitis. ... Reds CF Billy Hamilton missed his third straight start on Saturday because of a wrist injury. Scott Schebler started in CF. ... For the second straight game, Javier Baez started at third base for the Cubs and Kris Bryant played left field. ... The Cubs started 13-4 for the third time in franchise history and first since 1970.
