It wasn’t a huge offensive explosion for the Cubs, but against the Reds’ ace and with Yu Darvish on the bump, it was more than enough offense needed.

The Cubs collected 4 hits off Bauer, including 2 home runs from Anthony Rizzo en route to a 3-0 win over the Reds in the opener of the teams’ doubleheader on Saturday. They showed patience against Bauer, forcing him to throw 112 pitches in 5.1 innings of work, including a 30-pitch 2^nd inning.

“When you have a plan and are looking for your pitch and the pitch is not in the zone, being able to take that and not pull the trigger, taking pitches is just a product of your plan,” David Ross said.

Kyle Schwarber walked to lead off the 2^nd and advanced to third on a hit-and-run single by Willson Contreras. Jason Heyward grounded to shortstop Freddy Galvis to drive in Schwarber and give the Cubs the lead.

“The gameplan was to attack,” Ross said. “They did a good job of swinging at pitches in the zone, I thought. Really good at-bats and when you get starting pitching like we got today, we didn’t need many.”

It would be more than enough offense for Yu Darvish who continued his dominance in 2020. Darvish struck out 8, allowed 7 hits and 2 walks to pick up the win. Darvish worked his way out of jams in the 5^th and 6^th inning to keep the shutout intact. He lowered his ERA to 1.47 with his shutout performance.

Going up against the Reds’ ace, that’s the exact type of performance Darvish wanted.

“It was big, for sure,” Darvish said. “He’s amazing this year. So, I was thinking before the game, I can’t give them more than 2 runs.”

Rizzo continued his offensive tear in the series, hitting his second and third home run of the series, his first a 364-foot blast to right field in the 3^rd and his second a 104.1-mile-an-hour missile to right center.

Jeremy Jeffress came on in the 7^th to pick up his 4^th save of the year. Jeffress has allowed just 2 earned runs in 13.1 innings.

Alec Mills takes the bump in the second game of the doubleheader for the Cubs.