Nico Hoerner homered and Chicago made the most of a rare gaffe by Tampa Bay, handing Shane McClanahan his first loss of the season with a 2-1 victory over the Rays on Tuesday night.
The game was tied at 1 when Ian Happ led off the sixth with a shallow fly ball that dropped between Tampa Bay second baseman Brandon Lowe and right fielder Josh Lowe in a miscommunication between the fielders.
Happ hustled into second with a double. After Seiya Suzuki struck out and Trey Mancini bounced to second, Mike Tauchman hit a tiebreaking RBI single into left field.
That was enough for Chicago, which topped the majors' best team for the second straight day after entering the series with a four-game losing streak.
Julian Merryweather (1-0), Mark Leiter Jr. and Adbert Alzolay combined for four innings of one-hit ball in relief of Kyle Hendricks. Merryweather earned his first major league win, and Alzolay got six outs for his second save.
Hendricks yielded six hits, struck out three and walked three in five innings. It was his second start of the season after he was sidelined by a right shoulder strain.
Cubs OF Cody Bellinger (left knee contusion) was scheduled for cage work and throwing.
Rays right-hander Zach Eflin (7-1, 3.17 ERA) faces Cubs left-hander Justin Steele (6-2, 2.77 ERA) in the series finale on Wednesday afternoon. Eflin is 3-0 with a 3.60 ERA in his last three starts. Steele is coming off his worst outing of the season, yielding five earned runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings in a 9-0 loss to Cincinnati.
