CHICAGO — After a troubling six-game road trip that saw the Chicago Cubs win just one game and extend their poor play into a 2-8 stretch, Monday’s off day was a much-needed respite from the team’s woes. Following it up with Tuesday night’s 14-1 blowout of the Pittsburgh Pirates could be the panacea this team was seeking.
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“It was nice to take a breath,” manager David Ross said. “It had to feel good all the way around.”
Dansby Swanson started it off with a two-run homer in the first inning and gave the Cubs the big hit they’ve been searching for over the last 10 days. They added two more in the second, single runs in the third and sixth and then sunk the Pirates with an eight-run eighth. That inning was punctuated by Alexander Canario’s grand slam and Cody Bellinger’s three-run homer.
“You need games like that,” Ian Happ said. “You need games where you break out, have some hits and everybody remembers they can do it. At some points in the season, the game wears on you, and you gotta remember that’s very possible. It’s possible for us to put up 10-plus any given day. So to be able to do that after a tough little stretch is nice.”
Canario’s absence from the lineup has been a hot-button issue for some, but since the rookie arrived in the heat of a September pennant race, it was hard for Ross to insert him into the lineup over veterans who had helped the team consistently over the season. But multiple injuries led to his first start Tuesday night. The young righty made sure to take advantage of his moment.
In the sixth, he slugged the first pitch he saw at 104.4 mph over a stumbling Bryan Reynolds in left field to drive in the Cubs’ sixth run of the night, doubling for his first career hit. He added the grand slam in a big eighth inning, jumping on a hanging slider.
“It’s incredible, definitely surreal,” Canario said through interpreter Fredy Quevedo. “Especially with the bases loaded. It’s something that I dreamed of.”
“Story of the night was Canario at the end,” Ross said. “That’s pretty awesome. Getting his first hit and a home run. Stretched it out a little bit and allowed us to use the whole bullpen. Good team win. Fourteen and air-tight defense, that’s pretty good. We’ll take that every night.”
Alexander CanSLAM!pic.twitter.com/5AsxBX4l2K
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 20, 2023
Canario’s homer felt big, but Bellinger’s certainly matters more. The slugging lefty has carried the offense for a while, but he was in a slight slump as of late and failed to log an extra-base hit while the team lost five games in a row. Not only did he homer, but also he had two other balls that went for outs that he hit over 100 mph, something he just hadn’t been doing much recently. Seiya Suzuki stayed hot with three hits, including a double and a homer. As a team, the Cubs knocked out 12 hits and drew six walks while striking out just three times.
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Yes, it came against subpar pitching, but it’s not as if the Cubs were facing a string of aces over the last week. During their 2-8 skid, the Cubs averaged just 3.3 runs per game, and over the last seven games, not a single starter they faced had an ERA below 4.50. They scored five or more runs just three times over those 10 games, two of those coming in their wins and the third time during a 13-inning loss in which they scored three runs with the free runner in extras but failed to deliver a decisive blow despite multiple opportunities.
Bellísimo, Cody 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/PQGh7Zw5pB
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 20, 2023
Before Tuesday’s win, Ross and Jed Hoyer talked about the need for that one big hit — a double in the gap with men on base or a big three-run homer. Those have been lacking for a few weeks now. During the Cubs’ hot stretch after the All-Star break, they slugged their way back into contention. From that point through Aug. 22, only one team, the Atlanta Braves, had a better ISO (isolated power, a statistic that essentially shows how much power a team or player is hitting for). But from Aug. 23 through Sunday, their power had completely dissipated, especially in the biggest moments.
During those 25 games, the Cubs had just 26 extra-base hits with runners on base. It’s one thing to just hit with runners in scoring position, but slugging with men on is a game changer. During their five-game losing streak, the Cubs hit decently with men in scoring position. They batted .256 in 55 plate appearances in those situations. That amounted to 11 hits. But since 10 of those were singles, they only managed to drive in nine runs.
That all changed Tuesday. The Cubs had eight extra-base hits on the night, six of them with runners on base. They hit three doubles, two of which scored runners from first. They had three multi-run homers after having a total of six in the previous 25 games. Hit the ball hard into the gaps or over the fence with men on base regularly, and this team will win a lot of games.
“It’s big for us,” Ross said. “We’ve been looking for the seal-breaker where you get the ball in the gap and guys get to run around a little bit. We hit some balls really hard line to line tonight. We’ve been pretty consistent pitching-wise, you feel like we’re in a lot of games. The games we’ve won, we’ve offensively done something special. Get that big double, get the big home run, get some breathing room early on. It was nice to feel that tonight.”
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The Cubs’ 2-8 stretch had many panicking about their playoff chances. They went from having a four-game lead while sitting in the second wild-card spot to essentially tied with three other teams. That’s incredibly hard to do. But going from 10 games under .500 and clawing back into the playoff race is hard as well.
The Cubs have faced a lot of adversity in a short time this summer and somehow have come out still fighting for a spot in October with just 11 games remaining. They have to hope that dry spell is a thing of the past. Nobody in the clubhouse wants that last trip to be the defining moment of the season. Instead, they’d love for Tuesday to be the spark they needed to get back on track and ride a wave into the playoffs.
“You gotta understand there’s always going to be tough stretches,” Happ said. “Even the best Cubs teams have gone through a tough two-week spot. That’s baseball. Teams that will lose three in a row will win 105 games this year. You gotta be OK with that and you gotta get to the next day. You have to understand that it really is one day at a time. It’s very cliche, but it’s super important.”
(Photo of Alexander Canario: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)