Pinch-hitter David Bote smashed a grand slam against Ryan Madson with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday night.
Bote's long drive to center field came after Washington's Max Scherzer and Chicago's Cole Hamels delivered simply dominant starts.
Madson (2-5) came in with a 3-0 lead to start the ninth and quickly ran into trouble.
He gave up an infield single to Jason Heyward with one out and hit Albert Almora with a pitch. Madson then retired Kyle Schwarber on a foul pop before hitting Contreras to load the bases, but Bote drove a 2-2 pitch well beyond the center-field wall.
Teammates mobbed him as he crossed the plate and fans chanted "Bote! Bote!" It was quite a turn after the Cubs got shut down for most of the night. But they managed to take two of three in the first meeting between these teams since Chicago won the NL Division Series last year.
Bote's drive made a winner of Justin Wilson (4-3), who got the final two outs in the ninth.
The Nationals managed just three hits, but looked as though they were on their way with Scherzer tossing three-hit ball over seven scoreless innings. The three-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 11 and walked one.
Hamels was about as good, giving up just one run and one hit in seven innings. He struck out nine and walked one in his third start since Chicago acquired him from Texas.
The only hit he allowed was Daniel Murphy's single in the second to put runners on first and third. Mark Reynolds then drove in Ryan Zimmerman with a sacrifice fly.
The Nationals did not get another hit until Trea Turner tripled against Brandon Kintzler in the ninth. Back-to-back walks to Juan Soto and Bryce Harper - the second being intentional - loaded the bases for Zimmerman, who then chased Kintzler with an RBI single.
Wilson then retired Murphy on fly to left before Reynolds struck out looking.
The Cubs will send LHP José Quintana (10-8, 4.28) to the mound when they open a two-game series against Milwaukee on Tuesday.
