CHICAGO (Interstat) — Matthew Boyd pitched seven strong innings, Seiya Suzuki homered and Nico Hoerner drove in the go-ahead run as the Chicago Cubs edged the Miami Marlins 2-1 on Thursday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Boyd allowed one earned run on five hits over seven innings, walking two and striking out three, to improve to 10-5. Ryan Zeferjahn worked a perfect ninth for his seventh save. The Cubs improved to 90-72 and avoided a three-game sweep after Miami won the first two games of the series. The Marlins fell to 78-81. Attendance was 35,410, and the game took 2 hours, 27 minutes.

Miami starter Tyler Phillips kept Chicago off the board for four innings, allowing three hits and four walks while striking out two. In the first, Otto Lopez singled before Heriberto Hernández grounded into a double play. Jakob Marsee grounded out. In the bottom half, Pete Crow-Armstrong walked, Suzuki struck out and was out on batter interference, Michael Busch flied out to center to move Crow-Armstrong to third, and Michael Conforto grounded out to Phillips. In the second, Javier Sanoja singled on a soft bunt, Agustín Ramírez lined out to right, Esteury Ruiz reached on a fielding error by third baseman Pedro Ramírez, Deyvison De Los Santos popped out and Jared Serna lined out to center. Chicago also failed to score in the second after Ian Happ walked and Nico Hoerner grounded into a double play. Pedro Ramírez singled, but Carson Kelly grounded out.

Miami scored first. Brian Navarreto doubled in the third, moved up on Otto Lopez’s groundout, and scored on Marsee’s line-drive single to center. Marsee finished with the RBI. Sanoja then grounded out to end the inning. Chicago threatened in the bottom of the third when Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki singled and Conforto walked, but Happ grounded out to strand the runners. In the fourth, Ramírez singled and Ruiz walked for Miami, but De Los Santos flied out and Serna grounded into a double play. Chicago went quietly in the fourth as Hoerner lined out, Pedro Ramírez walked, Kelly grounded out and Dansby Swanson struck out.

Boyd settled in and Chicago tied it in the fifth when Suzuki launched his 26th home run of the season to center field. Crow-Armstrong was called out on strikes before the homer, and Busch struck out and Conforto grounded out after it. Miami could not answer in the sixth. Marsee walked, but Sanoja flied out, Ramírez struck out and Ruiz grounded out. The Cubs moved ahead in the bottom of the sixth. Happ tripled with one out, and Hoerner followed with a line-drive single to left that scored Happ. Pedro Ramírez popped out, Kelly popped out and Swanson grounded out, but the Cubs had the lead.

Jack Ralston took the loss for Miami, allowing two earned runs on three hits over 1.1 innings while striking out two. Josh Ekness followed with 1.2 scoreless innings, and Victor Vodnik pitched a scoreless inning with one strikeout. Chicago’s bullpen closed it out. Daniel Palencia tossed a scoreless eighth with one walk, and Zeferjahn retired the Marlins in order in the ninth.

Miami’s best chances came early and late. In the first, Lopez singled but was erased on a double play. In the second, Sanoja singled and Ruiz reached on an error, but two flyouts ended the inning. In the fourth, Ramírez singled and Ruiz walked, but Serna grounded into a double play. In the eighth, Lopez walked, but Hernández grounded into a force out and Marsee and Sanoja were retired. In the ninth, Ramírez popped out, Kyle Stowers grounded out and Griffin Conine grounded out to Zeferjahn.

Boyd was the top star for Chicago. He threw 7 innings, allowed five hits and one earned run, walked two and struck out three. He had allowed one earned run over five innings in a win at Cincinnati on Sept. 19 and four earned runs over 5.1 innings in a loss to Pittsburgh on Sept. 13. Suzuki went 2-for-3 with a home run and one RBI. Hoerner went 1-for-4 with one RBI. Happ went 1-for-3 with a triple and a run. For Miami, Phillips allowed three hits and no earned runs over four innings with four walks and two strikeouts. Ralston fell to 0-2. Ekness, Vodnik and the Miami bullpen kept the Cubs off the scoreboard after the sixth, but the Marlins could not mount a rally.

Chicago’s defense turned double plays behind Boyd and the bullpen. Swanson, Hoerner and Busch combined on a double play in the first, and Swanson, Hoerner and Busch turned another in the fourth. The Cubs improved to 90-72. The Marlins dropped to 78-81. Chicago will visit the Boston Red Sox on Friday. Miami will host the Atlanta Braves on Friday. The Cubs had lost the first two games of the series, falling 3-2 on Wednesday and 8-2 on Tuesday. Miami had won three of its previous six games before Thursday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Miami 7, Chicago 6. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Cubs a 60.4 percent probability to win. Chicago had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The over/under line was 7.5. The total score of 3 went over the over/under line of 7.5.