Anthony Rizzo drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh inning to force in the tiebreaking run and give the Chicago Cubs a 3-2 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals in a Friday matinee at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs finished with just four hits. But they drew six walks, and that helped them as Rizzo walked three times, scored once and drove in the deciding run on a free pass.

In the seventh inning, with the game tied at 2, the Cubs loaded the bases with three singles against Sammy Solis (1-2) and Greg Holland. Rizzo walked on four pitches for the winning run.

Steve Cishek (3-1) earned the win in relief, and Pedro Strop closed it for his ninth save.

The Cubs' biggest troubles came because of Washington starter Jeremy Hellickson. He threw 5 2/3 innings of no-hit baseball, as he walked Rizzo to start the first and set down the next 17 Cubs.

Hellickson walked Rizzo with two outs in the sixth on a 13-pitch at-bat and followed that with two more walks, each on four pitches, to load the bases. Solis came on and gave up a game-tying two-run single to Jason Heyward.

That left Hellickson with an unusual pitching line of two runs on no hits in his 5 2/3 innings.

Kyle Hendricks pitched well for the Cubs, but he did not get much offensive support from his teammates. The right-hander gave up two runs on eight hits in six innings and got a no-decision.

The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Juan Soto's two-out RBI single.

Washington used the same strategy in the second as Adam Eaton got a two-out single that made it 2-0.

Chicago tied it on Heyward's two-run single in the sixth. Rizzo came through with his timely walk in the seventh, and manager Joe Maddon got tossed in that half of the inning for arguing an interference call.

Soto drove in his run for Washington but also got picked off twice in the game as the Nationals lost despite outhitting the Cubs, 9-4.

--Field Level Media