BOSTON — The Cubs adjusted quickly to Steven Wright’s knuckleball.
Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer, and Miguel Montero had a solo shot off Wright, helping the Cubs rebound from a series-opening loss with a 7-4 victory over the Red Sox on Saturday.
“I thought we did a nice job. It’s just awkward hitting against the knuckleball,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “There is no real training ground for it. You don’t necessarily get a guy out there throwing a knuckleball in BP.”
All the Cubs faced Wright for the first time.
After collecting just one single in the first three innings, Rizzo’s homer started Chicago’s comeback from a 3-0 deficit. Montero’s shot tied it in the seventh.
“It’s just hard. You really don’t know what to look for,” Montero said before joking “I told the umpire I’m going to close my eyes and swing hard in case I hit it.”
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Ben Zobrist added a solo homer, and Kris Bryant had two hits and scored twice for Chicago, backing a decent start by former Red Sox righty John Lackey.
Lackey (2-3) gave up four runs in six innings, snapping his string of losses in three straight starts. He was part of Boston’s 2013 World Series title team.
Lackey said he texted former teammate Dustin Pedroia on the way to the ballpark.
Hanley Ramirez and Andrew Benintendi had solo homers for the Red Sox, who have the majors’ fewest homers.
Boston’s streak of nine straight interleague wins in Fenway Park was snapped.
Wright (1-3) gave up five runs and seven hits in 6ª innings.
“I think with the exception of the 0-2 slow knuckleball that Steven threw to Rizzo, this was his best knuckleball that he’s had to date,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said.
Wright has given up nine homers after allowing only 12 last season.
“I felt a lot better today overall,” he said. “The one pitch I wish I could get back was that 0-2 pitch to Rizzo. I was trying to get it a little bit more in front of the plate and it kind of stood up a little bit and he made me pay.”
