Tauchman's game-saving grab lifts Cubs to seventh straight win
Mike Tauchman will be the talk of the NL Central for the next few days after he reached over the wall and rescued the Cubs seventh-straight win.
The defensive gem completed a great escape as the Cubs held on to win 3-2 in St. Louis. With two outs and a runner on third, pinch-hitter Alec Burleson lofted a fly ball to center field that seemed harmless at first, but kept on carrying.
Tauchman found the wall, timed his leap perfectly and grabbed the ball before it landed on the grass backdrop at Busch Stadium. He turned a game-winning home run into the final out.
When Tauchman hit the ground, he let out a scream as the rest of the Cubs rushed out to center field to celebrate. The Palatine native was doused with at least three water buckets during his postgame interview. An equipment manager probably should have grabbed Tauchman's glove and put it in a dry, safe place before the deluge hit, but it does have time to dry.
Tauchman didn't start the game since St. Louis had a left-handed pitcher on the mound, so he played center field only in the ninth inning after pinch-hitting in the top of the inning. After the game, he described the defensive play in detail.
"My initial read was not that it was going to maybe necessarily be that close to the wall," Tauchman said. "As outfielders, we're taught, 'Get to the wall,' and then you have time to make the adjustments you need to.
"Most warning tracks are around 2 ½ to 3 steps and then a jump. It's kind of like you have that internal clock or feeling of, 'I've kind of got to go up now' and it kind of just coincided with the ball coming down. I didn't know I was right at the wall until I kind of turned to catch the ball. Just happy to make a play for the team in that spot."
Adbert Alzolay completed a four-out save, but had some tense moments. Willson Contreras and Tyler O'Neill started the ninth with singles, before Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson turned a sharp double play, setting the stage for the final at-bat.
"I hadn't gotten that excited in a really long time. That was a lot of fun," manager David Ross said. "Tauchman's been really important to our team and our success. Our consistency I feel like since he's been here has been really good.
"Baseball instincts are really important and he's got a high baseball IQ. I'm glad we made the switch late. That was amazing."
Another highlight Friday was a strong outing by Drew Smyly. Hayden Wesneski was brought up from Iowa to start the game and he worked 2 innings before Smyly went 4⅓ with 1 run allowed.
In his previous five starts, Smyly posted a 9.43 ERA, allowing 32 hits in 21 innings. The last time out on July 22 against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field, Ross decided to mix things up and used Michael Fulmer as an opener. Smyly took the mound to start the third inning and was tagged with 4 earned runs in 3⅔ innings.
St. Louis outfielder Lars Nootbar led off the first inning with a home run off Wesneski, then started the third with a homer against Smyly.
Patrick Wisdom, after shaving his mustache, hit a home run in the fifth to get the Cubs on the board. Seiya Suzuki's double sparked a 2-run rally in the sixth. Dansby Swanson's sacrifice fly scored the first run, then Trey Mancini added a bases-loaded single that scored Ian Happ, but Cody Bellinger was thrown out at the plate.
The Cubs missed two chances to pad the lead. Ian Happ led off the eighth with a double, but was left stranded on third. The Cubs put two runners on with nobody out in the ninth, but that threat was ruined when Miguel Amaya bunted into a double play.
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