Cubs reignite playoff race with 14-1 win over Pirates
Back at Wrigley Field after squandering their lead in the wild-card race, the Cubs took confidence in the fact they survived a "win or else" scenario already this season.
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer was literally days away from trading Cody Bellinger and giving up on the season at the trade deadline. The Cubs started winning, added to the roster instead of subtracting, and now find themselves with two weeks to secure a playoff spot.
"I think this group has been in a similar situation already this year, which is kind of unique," second baseman Nico Hoerner said before the game. "We had to produce heading into that trade deadline. We did and I think we handled that incredibly well, brought some of our best games and qualities out of our group and I expect the same in this stretch."
Nothing takes the pressure off like a fast start. Two batters into the bottom of the first, the Cubs led 2-0 as Hoerner walked and Dansby Swanson followed by dropping one into the basket in left-center field for a 2-run homer. Seiya Suzuki later added his 19th home run of the season and rookie Alexander Canario added a grand slam in the eighth to make it 10-1. The Cubs won 14-1.
Hoyer agreed with Hoerner's statement about the Cubs narrowly avoiding a sell-off in July.
"Coming out of the All-Star break, I think there was a realization if we don't play really well up to the deadline, that was going to happen," Hoyer said. "So certainly this team has faced that pressure before and they played with a lot of urgency."
The Cubs still control their own destiny because they lead Cincinnati and Miami in the loss column for the third wild card slot. They'd lost eight of the last 10 games heading into Tuesday's action, though.
"If you told us this situation on July 17, you would have been elated," Hoyer said. "Obviously, we had put ourselves in the catbird seat at one point and (last week's) road trip certainly hurt that. But we would have loved to be in this position in the middle of July. We're in the situation where if we play well, we should be playing in October."
Hoyer didn't want to worry too much about whether players were tired or shuffling the batting order to shake things up. Manager David Ross had to try something new Tuesday since Nick Madrigal went on the injured list with a right hamstring strain. Patrick Wisdom played first base and Christopher Morel third.
"I think those are all almost impossible questions to answer," Hoyer said. "Ultimately you can only make one decision in that moment and if it works, people think it's smart and if it doesn't, people think you should have done the other, and you never know what thing actually led to what happened.
"Does changing the batting order help us start hitting or were we going to start hitting regardless? We'll never know."
Starting pitcher Javier Assad allowed 1 run over 5 innings, then the Cubs got scoreless innings from relievers Drew Smyly, Jose Cuas and Mark Leiter Jr.
Cary-Grove High School grad Quinn Priester came on to pitch for the Pirates in the second and worked 6 innings, allowing 4 runs and 5 hits with 2 strikeouts.
Canario got the first start of his major-league career at designated hitter. He was involved in an unusual play in the sixth, standing in the on-deck circle with Wisdom at the plate. As Wisdom hit a foul pop up, Canario must have lost sight of the ball, because he didn't move and bumped into Pirates third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes, who was chasing the pop up.
Whether Hayes would have caught the ball is debatable, because it landed on top of the concrete wall, just in front of the net. But after an umpires' meeting, Wisdom was called out due to interference.
Canario took away, then gave back, ripping Priester's first pitch over the left fielder's head for an RBI double and his first major-league hit.
Pete Crow-Armstrong made his Wrigley Field debut as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning, then drew a walk in the eighth.
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