Suzuki's two homers lift Cubs to 2-1 win over Pirates
PITTSBURGH - Seiya Suzuki homered twice, Drew Smyly pitched 5 scoreless innings and the Cubs beat Pittsburgh 2-1 on Tuesday, spoiling the Pirates' home opener.
Suzuki connected for leadoff shots in the fifth and seventh. One of the top players in Japan, Suzuki signed an $85 million, five-year contract with the Cubs last month.
Smyly (1-0) permitted 3 hits and walked none in his Cubs debut. The left-hander agreed to a one-year contract last month.
Smyly also signed a $10 million, two-year contract with the Cubs in December 2017, but he never pitched for Chicago. Working his way back from Tommy John surgery, he ran out of time to get into a big league game in 2018 and was traded to Texas that November.
The Pirates got their only run on Bryan Reynolds' homer against Mychal Givens in the eighth.
David Robertson worked a perfect ninth for his second save.
Jose Quintana (0-1) made his first appearance for Pittsburgh, pitching 5 effective innings against one of his former teams. The veteran lefty joined the Pirates as a free agent in November after posting a 6.43 ERA in an injury-plagued 2021 season with the Los Angeles Angels and San Francisco.
Suzuki drove a full-count pitch from Quintana deep to right-center in the fifth. He connected against Anthony Banda in the seventh for his third homer in his fourth major league game.
Suzuki has reached base at least twice, scored a run and driven in a run in each game. The last Cubs player to start the season with a longer streak was Mark Grudzielanek with five in 2003.
Smyly induced a career-high 11 groundball outs.
Ian Happ had 2 hits for Chicago. He is 7 for 10 in three games so far this season.
Cubs right-hander Keegan Thompson has appealed his three-game suspension for hitting Milwaukee's Andrew McCutchen with a pitch Saturday. He remains eligible to play until the appeal process ends.
Manager David Ross served his one-game suspension for the incident. Bench coach Andy Green served as acting manager.
"It's out of my control. It's part of the rules," Ross said when asked if he thought the suspension was justified.