Steele shuts down Giants; Tauchman to miss “significant time”
When he first came back from a hamstring injury this season, Justin Steele gave up an uncharacteristic 6 home runs over 3 games.
He found a way to shut off the faucet, giving up no homers in his last five starts. Even with the wind blowing straight out to center field once again, no Giants found the seats Tuesday and the Cubs pulled out a 5-2 victory at Wrigley Field.
Steele remains winless on the season, since the Cubs broke a tie with 3 runs in the eighth. But over his last five starts, Steele's ERA is 1.14.
What's the key to holding the opposition homer-less?
“Just try to miss the barrel,” Steele said with a laugh. “I wasn't missing the barrel early on and they were doing what they were supposed to do and the ball was leaving the yard. Just refining my pitches, being a little more fine with my location. Not leaving sliders over the heart of the plate.”
San Francisco starter Logan Webb came into this game having given up just 4 home runs in 92 innings, but Dansby Swanson got one into the wind and it carried into the bleachers for a 2-run, opposite-field blast in the second inning.
“Obviously good things happen when I'm able to hit the ball hard the other way,” said Swanson, who snapped an 0-for-18 drought with the home run.
The winning rally in the eighth came against Giants submariner Tyler Rogers. The Cubs batted around and left the bases loaded, but got RBI singles from Cody Bellinger. Ian Happ and Christopher Morel.
The bullpen had no issues as Keegan Thompson struck out the side in the ninth and Tyson Miller retired all four batters he faced.
Before the game, the Cubs placed outfielder Mike Tauchman on the 10-day injured list with a left groin strain and the feeling is he could be out a month. The Fremd High School graduate left Monday's contest in the third inning after legging out an infield single.
“Calling it a Grade 2 left groin strain,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “So he's going to miss significant time.”
Tauchman's injury could have opened the door for the Cubs to add a fresh bat to their slumbering lineup. But two of the leading candidates, outfielders Alexander Canario and Brennen Davis, are currently dealing with injuries. Neither was in the lineup Tuesday for the Iowa Cubs. The team didn't think the time was right for outfielder Owen Caissie to make his big-league debut. So infielder Miles Mastrobuoni was the player brought up to replace Tauchman.
The plan for now is to use rookie center fielders Pete Crow-Armstrong every day, along with first baseman Michael Busch, who has been the Cubs' best hitter in June. Busch had a pair of hits Tuesday and started the eighth-inning rally with a double off the wall.
“The way the lineups were going, we were kind of sitting one of these guys every day,” Counsell said. “So really didn't see opportunities for a lot of playing time. Mike sat once in a while or Michael Busch or Pete. So those are going to be the guys and Miles will largely be a bench piece.”
Counsell paid tribute to Willie Mays, the Hall of Famer who passed away Tuesday at 93.
“This is really one of the Mt. Rushmore of baseball players, in my opinion, and a legend in our game,” Counsell said. “I got to meet him a couple of times. He was the kind of person, along with Hank Aaron, who made you nervous because of how great they were.”
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