Jun 6, 2014 5 min read

Anthony Rizzo stayed at the plate for an extra second as his towering drive headed toward right field. The big first baseman just wanted to make sure it was fair before he got started on one enjoyable trip around the bases.

Rizzo hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning and the Chicago Cubs beat the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Friday for their season-high fourth consecutive victory.

“I think they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now and they’re continuing to pick each other up,” Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. “I think they’re starting to feel and know they can do this. You don’t want every game to be like this, but they’re doing it right. We’ll take it.”

The Cubs recovered after closer Hector Rondon blew a three-run lead in the ninth, earning their first four-game winning streak since last July 6-9. Rizzo also had a two-run double in the eighth and Jason Hammel pitched seven shutout innings.

Junior Lake hit a leadoff single against Kevin Slowey (1-1) before Rizzo connected for his 12th homer. It was Rizzo’s second homer in two days and the Cubs’ first game-ending shot since he connected against St. Louis on July 29, 2012.

Carlos Villanueva (2-5) pitched two perfect innings for the win. Chris Coghlan and Nate Schierholtz each had two hits.

Garrett Jones had three hits for Miami, which had won four in a row. Nathan Eovaldi gave up three runs and six hits in 7 2/3 innings in his first career appearance against the Cubs.

The Marlins had just two hits in extra innings. Their last nine hitters went down in order.

“Other than the ninth inning, you know, mounting the rally, which was good to see, we put together some nice at-bats and gave ourselves a chance to play some extras,” manager Mike Redmond said. “But then really in the extra innings, we didn’t get anything going at all.”

Hammel allowed six hits, struck out eight and walked one, extending his scoreless streak to 14 innings over his last two outings. The right-hander, who could be an attractive trade target for a contender at next month’s deadline, is 2-1 with a 1.42 ERA over his last four starts.

Detroit 6, Boston 3: Ian Kinsler and Torii Hunter hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning and Victor Martinez cleared the fences in the eighth, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 6-2 and end a season-high five-game losing streak.

Drew Smyly (3-4) allowed two runs on five hits over six innings. He struck out four and walked only one.

Ian Krol and Joba Chamberlain each threw an inning of scoreless relief and Joe Nathan pitched the ninth in a non-save situation with a four-run lead.

Rubby De La Rosa (1-1) gave up four runs, nine hits and two walks. He had five strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

Boston has lost four straight after winning seven in a row.

Detroit had lost 13 of 17 games, including the previous four, since sweeping the Red Sox on the road a few weeks ago.

Smyly snapped a skid of his own. He was 0-2 in his last two starts, giving up a total of nine runs over nine innings, and was 0-3 in his previous six outings.

Brock Holt led off the game with a single off Smyly and Xander Bogaerts followed with double that nearly cleared the left-center field wall to make it 1-0.

Detroit shortstop Andrew Romine tied the game with an RBI double in the third.

Martinez gave the Tigers a two-run lead in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly and they could have scored even more runs in the four-hit inning if Miguel Cabrera did not make a baserunning error. Cabrera was on first base with no outs when Martinez hit a drive to right-center, and he rounded second base by the time he knew center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. caught the ball, leading to an easy double play.

Kinsler and Hunter cleared the fences during a three-pitch sequence in the fifth, giving the Tigers a 4-1 lead.

The Red Sox pulled within two runs in the sixth when Dustin Pedroia reached on Romine’s throwing error, advanced to third on David Ortiz’s single through the right side against a shifted infield and scored on Jonny Gomes’ sacrifice fly.

Martinez sent a soaring shot over the left field wall in the eighth inning off Chris Capuano and backup catcher Bryan Holaday followed with a triple, chasing the Red Sox reliever after just six pitches. Austin Jackson followed with a sacrifice fly to give Detroit a four-run cushion.

Gyorko headed to DL: The San Diego Padres have placed second baseman Jedd Gyorko on the 15-day disabled list with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

The move, announced Friday, is retroactive to Wednesday.

Gyorko, a graduate of both University High School in Wheeling who played baseball for three years at West Virginia University has struggled after signing a $35 million, six-year contract extension in April. He’s hitting just .162.

Manager Bud Black says Gyorko had an anti-inflammatory shot, will use a walking boot and will wear a strap when he sleeps to keep the arch stretched out.

Taking Gyorko’s roster spot is left-hander Eric Stults, who was activated from the bereavement list. He’s scheduled to start Sunday against Washington.

The Padres will make two more roster moves Saturday, when right-hander Andrew Cashner is due to be activated from the disabled list. He’s been out with a sore elbow. Cashner is scheduled to start that night.