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MESA, Ariz. -- Paul Goldschmidt belted a grand slam in a seven-run seventh and Henry Blanco added a solo homer to back Ian Kennedy and lead the D-backs to an 12-2 victory Thursday over a Cubs split-squad team.
Kennedy, the D-backs' Opening Day starter, threw four scoreless innings, giving up five hits and walking one. He struck out three. He was the first Arizona pitcher to go four innings this spring.
With one out in the Arizona second, Lyle Overbay singled, reached third on Blanco's single and scored on John McDonald's single. Gerardo Parra, Aaron Hill and Justin Upton hit consecutive singles to open the third, with Parra scoring on Upton's hit.
Blanco connected with one out in the fourth off Ryan Dempster, hitting a 3-1 pitch into the left-field berm to give Arizona a 3-0 lead. Blanco now has four hits this spring, two of which are home runs.
Dempster was lifted after giving up three runs on eight hits while striking out three over 3 2/3 innings. What's left to do before Opening Day?
"Just executing pitches more consistently," Dempster said. "I felt today I'd throw a good one, bad one, good one, bad one and go back and forth. I threw some really good pitches and some stuff that I was trying to do worked well, made a few mistakes. It was a good work day."
Jason Kubel added a sacrifice fly in the Arizona fifth off James Russell and Craig Tatum hit an RBI double off Kerry Wood in the seventh. Jeff Beliveau took over for Wood with the bases loaded and walked two batters in a row to open a 7-0 lead. Goldschmidt then cleared the bases with his home run.
The Cubs got on the board in the seventh, when Matthew Szczur singled home Alfredo Amezaga. Michael Brenly, son of Cubs television analyst Bob Brenly, led off the Chicago eighth with a home run, his first this spring.
"The season will be here before we know it," Dempster said.
Up next for Cubs: Matt Garza will make his third Cactus League start on Friday when the Cubs play host to the Giants at 2:05 p.m. CT at HoHoKam Park in Mesa. So far this spring, Garza has given up six runs on six hits and two walks over 3 1/3 innings, serving up four of those runs in 1 1/3 innings in his last outing against the Dodgers. In that game, Garza stuck to two pitches and said he expected to add more in his next start. Friday's game will be broadcast on an exclusive free webcast on Cubs.com.
Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com. She writes a blog, Muskat Ramblings, and you can follow her on Twitter@CarrieMuskat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
