Justin Steele allowed three hits over 6 1/3 scoreless innings and Nico Hoerner had three hits with two RBIs as the Chicago Cubs rolled to a 10-1 victory over the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Friday.
Nick Madrigal clubbed his first home run since 2021, for one of his two hits, and Christopher Morel added a two-run shot to tie for the team lead with 14 homers, as Chicago broke out to snap a four-game losing streak. Jared Young went 2-for-3 with a two-run triple and Cody Bellinger also had two hits for the Cubs, who totaled just seven runs while being swept by Philadelphia during a three-game home set this week.
Meanwhile, Steele (9-2) continued his first-half brilliance by striking out six with a walk to record his 10th quality start in 15 outings, and lower his ERA to 2.43. The left-hander has yielded three runs over 17 1/3 innings in winning three consecutive starts.
Cleveland's Cal Quantrill (2-5) returned after missing a month with right shoulder inflammation, but lasted just 3 1/3 innings, yielding six runs, eight hits and two walks. Will Brennan homered in the ninth and Amed Rosario had two of the five hits for the Guardians, who are 3-4 since winning four in a row.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona (illness) was back after a three-game absence.
While Steele settled into a solid rhythm, Chicago opened the scoring in the third. Young and Madrigal recorded back-to-back, one-out singles, then Mike Tauchman walked. Hoerner followed with a single up the middle for a 2-0 lead that extended his hitting streak to nine games, while recording RBIs 41 and 42.
Chicago followed with four runs in the fourth when Bellinger and Yan Gomes opened with singles, and both scored on Young's second triple in as many days. Tauchman then singled in Young, and came home on Morel's sacrifice fly.
Madrigal and Morel each took Cleveland reliever Xzavion Curry deep during a three-run sixth inning to make it a 9-0 for Chicago, which also snapped a four-game home losing streak where it totaled 10 runs.
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