Marlins score six in the 12th to beat Cubs 8-2

The Cubs were one swing from turning a tense late-season game into a win. Instead, Miami broke a 2-2 tie in the 12th inning and scored six times, beating Chicago 8-2 Tuesday night at Wrigley Field. The defeat left the Cubs at 87-70 and delayed their push toward an NL wild-card berth.

Chicago had erased Miami's early lead in the sixth. Pete Crow-Armstrong scored when a throw on Michael Busch's grounder went awry, and Ian Happ singled home Seiya Suzuki. The Cubs did not get another hit over the final six innings. They finished with seven hits and stranded 15 runners, a costly contrast with Miami's late burst.

Miami's 12th-inning break

Esteury Ruiz began the decisive rally as the automatic runner. Griffin Conine's fly-ball single brought him home after a replay review overturned the initial tag-play call. Graham Pauley bunted Conine to second, and Jakob Marsee drove him in with another single. Chicago then issued a walk and hit a batter before Kyle Stowers drew a bases-loaded walk. Javier Sanoja singled in a run, and Joe Mack's two-run single pushed Miami's lead to six.

It was a sharp reversal after the teams spent five innings locked at 2-2. Stowers had supplied Miami's first two runs with an RBI double in the fourth and a solo homer in the sixth. Shota Imanaga allowed one run over five innings for Chicago, while Miami starter Janson Junk worked five scoreless innings. The Marlins' 12th produced four hits and six runs; the Cubs managed no response in the bottom half.

The Associated Press reported that the loss interrupted Chicago's chance to make progress toward clinching a wild-card place. The result also gives Wednesday's rematch a different edge: the Cubs still have games left in this series to turn the missed chances into a postseason step.