Schwarber busts out of slump to lead Cubs to sweep
Cubs' fans may never want Kyle Schwarber to get his head out of the trenches.
If he pokes his head up, he might focus too much on his stats.
"You know I'm just trying to keep my head buried and not even look at it," the Cubs' rookie said. "Once I start pressuring and trying to do things I can't control, that's when I start getting into slumps, or start being a bad teammate."
Thursday afternoon, Schwarber kept his head low.
Getting the start in left field, Schwarber hit 2 of the Cubs' 5 home runs, drove in 4 runs and went 3 for 4 at the plate as the Cubs won 9-2 over the Brewers and swept Milwaukee at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have won 13 of their last 14 games. It was the second multihomer game for the rookie, who hit 2 home runs and also had 4 RBI on July 21 in Cincinnati.
"We're all trying to contribute to the team," Schwarber said. "All we can do to help the team win is what we're going to do."
For Schwarber, that meant busting out of a slump. Heading into Thursday's game, he was 0-11 and was hitless over his last three games.
He ended his struggles with a solo home run to center field in the fifth inning to give Cubs a 4-1 lead. Schwarber added a 2-run home run in the seventh inning off Brewers' reliever Neal Cotts.
"I was swinging at stuff out of the zone and that's not me," Schwarber said. "It's going to happen at some point, you got to limit the time that it does happen and get back to being yourself."
The Cubs (65-48) showed their muscle in that fifth inning. Before Schwarber's home run, Dexter Fowler laced a 2-run homer to right field after a video replay to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead. Two batters after Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo hit a home run to center field to push the Cub lead to 5-1.
It was the first time the Cubs hit 3 home runs in an inning since Aug. 29, 2011 against San Francisco.
Chris Denorfia hit the Cubs' fifth home run of the day, a solo shot to left-center field in the eighth.
"If that game is played on another day with the wind blowing in, it's probably a 1-run game, more than likely," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "We hit some balls really well, we've done that a lot this year without being rewarded, no complaints."
The Cubs' likely won't have any complains about starter Jon Lester, who struck out 10 in 6 innings.
"He had really good stuff," Maddon said. "He held serve really nicely. I think it's the dynamic duo between him and (catcher) David (Ross), it really matters and together they've done a good job."
The Cubs are just looking for that success throughout their team and Schwarber and the other young players are giving that to the Cubs.
"Whether they were 0 for 4 or have a Kyle Schwarber day, they're going to show up tomorrow and continue to put up good, quality at-bats and give us innings," Lester said. "It's hard to win big league games, consistently. We've done a good job of that this year."