One Cubs player who probably isn’t all that happy with having four days off for the All-Star break could be Alex Bregman.
Bregman homered for the second straight game, a three-run blast that gave the Cubs a four-run lead in the seventh inning. He went 3-for-5 with four RBI on the afternoon.
The Cubs hung on to defeat the Reds 8-4, taking the series and completing a successful 4-2 road trip.
The Cubs took a first-inning lead as Reds starter Andrew Abbott struggled through a 30-pitch inning. Pete Crow-Armstrong, whose plate discipline has gone through the roof this year, led off with a walk and stole second, his 24th steal. (Incidentally, that’s second-best in the NL to Nasim Nuñez of the Nationals.) Here’s that steal [VIDEO].
Seiya Suzuki flied to center, with PCA taking third. Bregman then doubled in PCA [VIDEO].
Carson Kelly was then called out on strikes, but Bregman scored on this double by Michael Busch to make it 2-0 [VIDEO].
More on the first-inning runs from BCB’s JohnW53:
The runs that the Cubs scored in the first inning today were their first in the opening inning on the six-game road trip. They had last scored in the first a week ago, at home against the Cardinals. They had not scored in the two earlier games of the series vs. the Cards, so they had been blanked in seven of eight games before today.
Matthew Boyd was pitching out of trouble in the first two innings. With runners on first and third and two out in the first, Cubs nemesis Eugenio Suárez came to the plate. Boyd struck him out [VIDEO].
In the second, Boyd got some help from his defense. Dansby Swanson made this nice diving catch of a sinking liner by Tyler Stephenson [VIDEO].
The Reds took the lead with a four-run third off Boyd. That included a two-run homer by Suárez, his second in as many days off Cubs pitching and the 38th time he’s gone deep against the Cubs. If only the Mariners had decided they wanted to keep him — then the Cubs would have to face him in only one series this year instead of three (Suárez missed the series at Wrigley earlier this year). In any case the Cubs are now done with him (and the Reds) until September.
The Cubs didn’t waste any time evening up the score again, scoring a pair in the fourth. Kelly led off with a walk and went to third on a double by Busch. Nico Hoerner grounded out, with the runners holding, and Ian Happ walked to load the bases.
Kevin Alcántara, given a rare start at DH, hit a ball that bounced off second base. It went for a single, scoring two runs to make it 4-4 [VIDEO].
That’s where the score stayed until the seventh, when the Cubs blew the game open. Swanson led off with a double. Pedro Ramirez batted for Alcántara but struck out. PCA singled, scoring Swanson to give the Cubs the lead [VIDEO].
Suzuki was the next hitter. He hit a little bouncer behind the mound and Reds second baseman Edwin Arroyo couldn’t decide whether to go for PCA sliding into second or to get the out at first. Ultimately he didn’t do either and both runners were safe.
That set up Bregman for his three-run homer [VIDEO].
So the Cubs now had a four-run lead going to the bottom of the seventh. Boyd retired the first hitter in that inning and then made way for Gavin Hollowell. Boyd’s only mistake was the homer to Suárez, otherwise I thought he threw pretty well, 92 pitches (57 strikes). Here’s more on Boyd’s outing [VIDEO].
Hollowell completed the seventh without incident and also threw a scoreless eighth.
So the game went to the ninth with the Cubs still ahead by four. That lead was entrusted to Caleb Thielbar, who allowed a pair of singles sandwiched around a fly to center. Thielbar’s been pretty shaky this year and remember, he spent time on the injured list with a hamstring issue back in April and May. Could be he’s still not 100 percent from that.
Anyway, that brought Jacob Webb into the game, even though he’d thrown 23 pitches Saturday. Webb got Sal Stewart to hit a ground ball that might have been a double play, but Bregman was ruled on review to have just missed a tag on the lead runner. In any case, it did go for the second out.
Webb then retired Spencer Steer on a fly to left to end the game [VIDEO].
A few more game notes from John:
Cubs pitchers have allowed at least one run in 52 consecutive games, since shutting out the Braves, 2-0, at Atlanta on May 14. They have had 38 longer such streaks since 1901, plus three others of 52, the most recent of those in 2007.
Their 52 are the most since a 55-game streak, June 25-Aug. 27, 2021. They have had seven streaks of 30-45 games since then.
The Cubs’ longest runs-allowed streak was 106 games, in 1901, followed by 91, in 1953; 88, in 1958; and 81, in 1981. Their longest this century was 63, in 2001.
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With their 54th win today, the Cubs tied the 1977 team for the fifth-most wins at the break for the All-Star Game.
They were 54-35 in 1977, a season they ended 81-81.
They were 61-37-1 in 1969, 57-38 in 2008, 57-39 last year and 55-38 in 2018.
The Cubs’ average record at the break before this year was 40-43.
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This was the Cubs’ 23rd game with at least eight runs — 24 percent of all 96.
Only the Dodgers, with 26, and Nationals, with 25, began the day with more. The Pirates had their 23rd today vs. the Brewers. The Astros had 22.
The Cubs had 31 all of last year, tying the Diamondbacks for sixth most. The Yankees had 36; the Blue Jays, Brewers and Phillies, 33; and the Dodgers, 32.
More good news: The Pirates demolished the Brewers 14-5 Sunday, sweeping that series. That puts the Cubs five games behind Milwaukee heading into the break, and the teams have played the same number of games (96), so that’s five back in both the win and loss columns. The Brewers have lost two pitchers to injury (Brandon Woodruff and Kyle Harrison) and Jacob Misiorowski skipped a scheduled start Sunday due to “arm fatigue.” I don’t wish injury on anyone but the Brewers could be vulnerable now. The teams have seven games remaining against each other and with 66 games left, five games is not an insurmountable deficit.
Next, of course, is the All-Star break. Pete Crow-Armstrong heads to Philadelphia for the All-Star Game as the Cubs’ sole representative, and the rest of the club gets four days off. We will, of course, have coverage of all the All-Star events here at BCB, so stick around through the break!
The Cubs’ next game will be Friday at Wrigley Field against the Minnesota Twins. No pitching matchups have been announced for that three-game series yet, but personally I hope Boyd is penciled in for Friday’s game, which would be normal rest for him. (As always, we await developments.) Game time Friday is 7:05 p.m. CT — an unusual Friday night game at Wrigley! — and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
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