After a very slow start to the 2026 season, Dansby Swanson’s bat is heating up at the same time as the team has put together a long winning streak.
Swanson’s three-run homer, his third in his last seven games (and all three against the Phillies!), along with yet another strong outing from Colin Rea, helped lead the Cubs to their sixth consecutive victory, 5-1 over the visitors from Philadelphia on a chilly evening at Wrigley Field. It was also the Phillies’ sixth straight loss, a streak the Cubs began
last week at Citizens Bank Park.
Rea had a 1-2-3 first inning, helped out by two stellar defensive plays.
First, Ian Happ fell into the seats [VIDEO].
Then, Nico Hoerner made another of his patented diving stops [VIDEO].
If you ever doubt that defense matters, the Cubs show that it does almost every day.
Rea got into a bit of trouble in the second, when the Phillies loaded the bases with two singles and a walk, but Rea struck out Rafael Marchán to end the inning [VIDEO].
Here’s more good Cubs defense, from Michael Conforto in the second [VIDEO].
The Cubs put together a big inning in the bottom of the second. Happ and Moisés Ballesteros led off with singles. A walk by Conforto loaded the bases with nobody out.
Miguel Amaya hit into a double play, but Happ scored to make it 1-0 [VIDEO].
Pete Crow-Armstrong then walked. Swanson followed by launching this baseball into the bleachers [VIDEO].
That ball was crushed! [VIDEO]
The Cubs put another run on the board in the third. Michael Busch led off with a single and went to third on a double by Alex Bregman, who had a pair of doubles on the evening. Happ then struck out on a Phillies ABS challenge [VIDEO].
That ball didn’t hit the strike zone by much, but it did, and that turned ball four into strike three.
Michael Conforto’s sac fly followed, making the score 5-0 [VIDEO].
The Phillies scored a run in the fourth and I want to show you the play where it happened, because I think we are at the point where we almost expect PCA to make catches like this. He just missed this RBI double by Justin Crawford [VIDEO].
That would have been a fantastic five-star catch. No other center fielder in MLB gets even that close to that ball.
After that it was all Colin Rea, who was helped out again defensively by Busch in the sixth [VIDEO].
Rea exited with two out in the seventh. That’s the longest start by a Cubs pitcher this year. Can’t say enough about how good Rea has been since he entered the rotation. He just puts together solid outing after solid outing. In this one, he threw 92 pitches (62 strikes). He struck out five. Here’s more on Rea’s evening [VIDEO].
More on Rea’s evening from BCB’s JohnW53:
Monday night’s game was the ninth of the season in which a Cubs pitcher delivered a quality start: at least six inning, no more than three earned runs.
Edward Cabrera, Shota Imanaga, Colin Rea and Jameson Taillon each has two. Cade Horton had one.
The Cubs went into last night tied with the Guardians, Red Sox and Reds for 10th most. The Mariners had 13; the Dodgers and Tigers, 12.
The Cubs also were tied for 10th at the end of last season, with 62, the same as the Yankees. The Phillies had 84, a dozen more than the second-best Red Sox. This year, the Phillies have six, tied for 16th.
Hoby Milner took over for Rea and got yet another great play from Nico to end the seventh [VIDEO].
Milner threw a scoreless eighth, despite two walks. Corbin Martin was given the ninth to finish up. He allowed a leadoff walk and sent the runner to second with an error on a missed pickoff. Then the Cubs got still more great defense on this catch by Matt Shaw [VIDEO].
That’s six outstanding defensive plays in this game by Cubs fielders. Defense matters.
Here’s the final out of the game [VIDEO].
Here are a few postgame comments from Swanson about his homer and the team defense [VIDEO].
Over Swanson’s last 14 games: .229/.356/.563 (11-for-48) with a double, five home runs, 10 walks, 12 RBI and 18 runs scored. The BA is a bit low, but the other numbers are all excellent. His season OPS of .733 is almost exactly on his career number of .732.
And at 13-9, the Cubs are now tied for second place in the NL Central with the Pirates and Cardinals, 1.5 games behind the Reds.
Thus, at least for today:
The Cubs will go for the series win and seven in a row overall Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Jesús Luzardo for the Phillies, in a pitching rematch of the game the Cubs won last Wednesday in Philadelphia. Game time is again 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
