Cubs' bats finally bust out in 8-5 win over Reds
The Cubs have struggled mightily to mount any offense at Wrigley Field this season. But they created some late-night lightning against Cincinnati on Thursday.
The game was delayed by rain, then the Cubs fell behind 3-0. Sometime around 10 p.m., the bats finally came to life.
Against Reds starter Sonny Gray, the Cubs loaded the bases in the fourth on two walks and an infield single. As a team, they've batted .188 with the bases loaded. This time, two hits later, they had the lead.
First Nico Hoerner sent a 2-run double to center field. Then Ian Happ followed with a long ground ball, which was gloved well into the outfield grass by the second baseman. Happ beat the throw for an infield single and Hoerner scampered all the way home from second on the play, giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead. Happ later scored the fifth run of the inning on a ground out.
In the fifth, a Willson Contreras double and Cameron Maybin triple led to 2 more runs and a 7-3 advantage.
The Reds mounted a late threat, scoring twice in the eighth to make it 7-5. But an RBI double by Contreras in the bottom of that inning provided some insurance and the Cubs held on 8-5.
Contreras finished 4-4.
So the Cubs went from a 17-inning scoreless streak to scoring 7 runs in two innings. Heading into this game, the Cubs were batting .207 at home, according to mlb.com, worst in the majors.
Among the players batting below .200 at Wrigley this year were David Bote (.135), Anthony Rizzo (.159), Javy Baez (.165), Kris Bryant (.186) and Kyle Schwarber . (198).
Cubs manager David Ross struggled to address the topic before the game.
"I've seen it," he said. "Like I said last week when they asked me the question, I don't really have anything to put my finger on. Last year we weren't very good on the road. So I don't think there was a reason for that.
"This year it just happens to be at home. Such a unique season with so many variables to everything this year. So I don't have a real answer to that or something I can dive into."
Cubs President Theo Epstein also spoke to reporters by Zoom call before Thursday's contest and he didn't have many answers either - for the lack of home hitting, and the prolonged malaise since getting off to a 13-3 start.
"We're in that spot where we're atop the division, but we have a lot of work remaining," Epstein said. "We really haven't played all that well for a while now, so feel kind of fortunate to be in the spot that we're in and have this opportunity in front of us.
"It certainly would be nice to find another gear and start playing well down the stretch, kind of bookend the season with good stretches of play. A lot of guys individually and us collectively as a team can define our season by how we perform the last 16 games here."
Most of the players from the World Series nucleus are having down years, besides the home-field slumps.
"One big hit down the stretch to win us a big game or one big hit in October or a great October performance can define a season. I think the script has yet to be written," Epstein said. "As far as the offense overall, if you look at some of the stat lines at this point, it's probably not surprising that we haven't been hitting on all cylinders as a club.
"You can flip that around and say if our big boys do get going and perform up to their norms, even just for the rest of the year, that should put us in a really good place offensively the way the rest of the lineup is contributing."