Schwarber's grand moment lifts Cubs over Cards 5-3
There's never been any doubt about how Kyle Schwarber's Cubs teammates feel about him.
They saw how he rehabbed his surgically repaired knee last summer and got himself ready to play in the World Series.
They've seen him struggle at the plate this season.
So when Schwarber hit a grand slam in the seventh inning Saturday to rally the Cubs from a 3-1 deficit against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field, there wasn't a fellow Cub who didn't want a piece of Schwarber.
The opposite-field blast to left-center off pitcher Mike Leake with two outs in the seventh wound up being the decisive hit in a 5-3 victory that got the Cubs back to .500 at 27-27.
"That's what we're here for," said starting pitcher Jon Lester, who minimized damage in the first inning, when the Cardinals got 2 quick runs. "We're not only teammates, but we're family. We all want, not just because of, 'If he's hitting, it makes our team better' aspect, but you don't ever want to see one of your brothers, one of your family members, struggle.
"That was a big swing for him, I think, personally. Obviously for the team. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come."
Schwarber is hoping one swing of the bat signals a swing of fortune, but that remains to be seen. He has a line of .166/.284/.354, but with 9 home runs and 23 RBI.
Manager Joe Maddon called Schwarber on the phone Friday night and gave him the news that he would be batting ninth Saturday, not as any kind of punishment or humiliation, but as a chance to be a "second leadoff hitter" and because Schwarber got nothing much to hit batting seventh on Friday.
"It happened," Maddon said. "His at-bats really were decent prior to that. He gets a groundball to second base (against the shift). The next batter, (Ian) Happ, gets the same groundball and gets a hit. That's just defense playing against you right there. So if that first ball would have gotten through, he'd have been really happy - everything's right with the world. However, it's an out. That just speaks to shifting and defense.
"But to hang in there like he did, that's what we've seen in the past, driving the ball to the other gap. That's what we've been looking for. So if we can just continue on that mental path, man, that's outstanding to see. Pretty relevant moment in today's game and hopefully something he can build upon."
Down 2-0 early, the Cubs got a run back in the third on a Javier Baez homer before Yadier Molina's blast off Lester gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead in the sixth.
Jason Heyward and Willson Contreras singled in the seventh before Baez struck out. Pinch hitter Jon Jay was grazed with a pitch before Schwarber launched the first pitch he saw into the bleachers in left-center. It was his first career grand slam.
"Obviously it was nice to come up in that spot and be able to help out," he said. "It's kind of a sigh of relief because I want to go up there and I want to help my team. For me to do that was great."
Schwarber seems to appreciate the support he's gotten from teammates, Maddon and hitting coach John Mallee.
"It's big," he said. "It's easy to kick a guy to the curb, seeing the numbers like that. It's been a big support system with the fans to the players to our manager to our coaching staff, front office, everything. It's really big. You can definitely go home feeling worse if they didn't treat me the way they did. But they're all here to pick us up. That's how our team is. We're going to pick each other up."