The Cubs have found many different ways to win during their current eight-game winning streak.
Blowouts (three straight games with 10+ runs). Extra-inning thrillers (over the Mets on Sunday). Winning despite leaving 17 on base (Tuesday).
And Wednesday, a home run by a player who’s been struggling at the plate helped galvanize the offense. Michael Busch’s homer gave the Cubs a two-run lead in the third. Seiya Suzuki also homered and the Cubs got solid pitching and defense again and won for the eighth consecutive time, 7-2 over the Phillies, who, not coincidentally, lost their eighth in a row.
Matthew Boyd breezed through the first and then the Cubs got on the board right away in the bottom of the inning. Nico Hoerner led off the game with a single and went to third on a single by Alex Bregman.
Ian Happ hit into a force play, with Nico scoring [VIDEO].
Boyd got in trouble in the second. Three Phillies hits gave the visitors a 2-1 lead.
The Cubs got that run right back in the bottom of the inning — and here again, we see the value of defense, or lack thereof. With two out, Miguel Amaya lifted a fly ball to short center. Three Phillies converged on the ball, and it wasn’t real windy so they can’t blame the weather. Phillies center fielder Justin Crawford just dropped it, the ball glancing off his glove. Amaya, hustling, made it to second.
A double by Pete Crow-Armstrong tied tie game [VIDEO].
Boyd had an easier third, allowing a baserunner on a rare throwing error by Dansby Swanson. The Cubs then took the lead for good. Alex Bregman hit a ball off the front of the basket in left-center and got to third. A review confirmed that the ball was in play, missing a home run by inches [VIDEO].
Suzuki then hit into a double play, but Busch smacked a ball out of the yard to make it 4-2 [VIDEO].
That was a long time coming for Busch, who led the Cubs with 34 homers last year (and eight more in eight postseason games). It happened in his 95th plate appearance of the season. Last year Busch hit five home runs in his first 95 PA. Sometimes good hitters go through slumps like this. I think Busch will be just fine; hitting that first long ball often helps hitters break out.
Boyd was removed with two out in the fifth after inducing a double-play ball. He threw 84 pitches (56 strikes), didn’t walk anyone and struck out five. It wasn’t a great outing, but wasn’t a bad one either, considering he was coming off an injury. Same feeling about Boyd as about Busch: He’ll be just fine.
The Cubs then broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth. Bregman singled, his third hit of the game, another guy starting to heat up (last 11 games: .340/.407/.426 with two doubles, a triple and six walks). Bregman was forced at second by Happ, but Suzuki followed with this home run, his second in as many days [VIDEO].
It’s useful to remember that Suzuki missed much of the WBC and Spring Training with the knee injury suffered in a WBC game. He had only 17 PA in his rehab assignment and now has 52 PA in MLB games this year. So up to now, he was still getting the reps he missed in Mesa. This is another really good hitter who’ll be just fine.
It’s now 6-2 Cubs and Ben Brown, who relieved Boyd, threw 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out five. Seems to me Brown has found his role on this team — multi-inning reliever. He now has 20 strikeouts in 19 innings, with just one home run allowed this year. Good stuff from Ben. Corbin Martin threw a 1-2-3 eighth.
The Cubs added one more run in the bottom of the eighth. Moisés Ballesteros led off with a double (and FWIW, this was just the fifth time this year that Ballesteros played the entire game). He went to third on a ground out and scored on this PCA single [VIDEO].
PCA is also heating up. Last eight games: .345/.424/.483 (10-for-29) with two doubles and a triple. This is just in time for the Cubs to go to Dodger Stadium, where PCA is a lifetime .333/.320/.708 hitter (8-for-24 with a double, a triple and two home runs). All together now: “He’ll be just fine.”
Hoby Milner entered the game to finish things off. He allowed a leadoff single but then got the next two hitters. He ran a 1-2 count on Rafael Marchán and then a Milner pitch was called ball two.
And so, we witnessed a first Wednesday at Wrigley — the Cubs’ first-ever ABS walk-off!
The Cubs have outscored their opponents 58-20 during the eight-game winning streak (and conversely, the Phillies have been outscored 56-16 during their eight-game loss streak) and this time, they did get RISP hitting — 3-for-9 — and left just seven on base. The Reds lost Wednesday so the Cubs are alone in second place in the NL Central, half a game out of the top spot. More on the Cubs’ streak from BCB’s JohnW53: