Coming into Tuesday night’s game, the Cubs were third in all of MLB in hard-hit rate, trailing only the Dodgers and Rangers. Here’s what it looked like before the game:
You knew that eventually some of those hard hit balls would start falling in for hits, and that’s what happened Tuesday in Tropicana Field. The Cubs bats kept hitting baseballs hard, and many of them did drop in, leading to a 9-2 win over the Rays. The Cubs had 16 hits in the game, a season high.
The first inning went scoreless, then
Dansby Swanson smacked a double to left, hard it. Check out the exit velocity:
Michael Conforto followed with this RBI single [VIDEO].
Matt Shaw scored Conforto with this double [VIDEO].
The Cubs put two more on the board in the third. Alex Bregman led off with a double and went to third on a sharp single to right by Pete Crow-Armstrong.
PCA took off for second. He was safe, and a throwing error allowed Bregman to score [VIDEO].
PCA took third on the error and scored on a sac fly by Moisés Ballesteros [VIDEO].
That was all off Rays reliever Mason Englert, who I thought was going to be used as an opener in this one — but the Rays left him in through two out in the fourth inning and 65 pitches, a career high for the right-hander. The Cubs took advantage and hit him hard. The last batter he faced, Nico Hoerner, smacked a laser of a line drive to left for a single, their seventh hit of the game in less than four innings.
A note on those back-to-back two-run innings from BCB’s JohnW53:
Going into tonight, the Cubs had scored multiple runs in just two of their last 41 innings. Then they did it twice in three innings, back-to-back.
Javier Assad breezed through the early going in this game, retiring the first 12 Rays on just 46 pitches, really efficient work. It was his usual game when he’s on, not throwing real hard, just keeping Rays hitters off balance and pounding the strike zone. Keep up this great work!
PCA was thrown out trying to steal in the fifth. That was the Cubs’ first CS of 2026 after 11 successful steal attempts this year.
Junior Caminero walked to lead off the fifth, the Rays’ first baserunner. An infield hit by Chandler Simpson broke up any thought of a no-hit bid. Assad eventually got out of the inning with a double-play ball.
In the sixth, Ballesteros led off with a single and one out later, advanced to second on a wild pitch. A walk drawn by Conforto and single by Shaw loaded the bases. Nico Hoerner then dribbled a ball up the middle that the Rays defense turned into an out with some fancy flips, but Ballesteros scored to make it 5-0 [VIDEO].
Assad was lifted with two out in the sixth and 80 pitches, having allowed one hit and two walks, with three strikeouts. He was just outstanding. Here’s more on Assad’s outing [VIDEO].
Hoby Milner relieved Assad and allowed a hit, then finished off the inning with a fly to center. More on Assad’s outing from John:
This was the 11th of Javier Assad’s 55 career starts in which he did not allow a run. The longest was 8.0 innings at Cincinnati on Sept. 2, 2023. The Cubs lost, 2-1. He pitched six innings three times, on April 2, May 5 and May 15 of 2024; 5.1 twice, in 2022 and last year; and 5.0 twice, both in 2022. The two other starts were only 4.0 and 3.1. The fewest hits in any of the previous shutout starts of at least 5.0 was four, five times. The most recent was May 15, 2024, vs. the Rockies.
PCA’s bat seemed to come alive in this game. In the seventh, he smashed his first home run of the year [VIDEO].
That was another ball hit really hard by a Cub [VIDEO].
The Cubs added another run in the eighth. Swanson led off with a single and stole second. Conforto walked, and one out later Nico singled in Dansby [VIDEO].
The Rays got on the board in the eighth with a couple of runs off Phil Maton, who has been… not good so far in a Cubs uniform. This is something that’s going to have to improve. Craig Counsell doesn’t have much of a Circle of Trust in this year’s Cubs bullpen so far. One of the runs scored literally off Maton when Ryan Vilade’s line drive hit him in the back [VIDEO].
Maton had to be relieved by Caleb Thielbar with two out and his season ERA at 13.50. That’s gotta improve.
The Cubs added two more in the ninth. PCA singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Ballesteros followed with his first home run of 2026 [VIDEO].
This is the sort of offense this team is capable of. Let’s hope it shows up more often in upcoming games.
Jacob Webb, who had also struggled in his first few appearances this year, entered to throw the ninth. He walked the first hitter he faced on four pitches, then retired three in a row to end things. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].
That’s the only complaint department item for this one, still a bit shaky among the middle relievers.
Once again in this game, Ballesteros showed how good he is at ABS challenges. Here, he gets a strike three call overturned [VIDEO].
As JD says on the clip, that’s a dangerous time to use a challenge — top of the second inning. But Ballesteros was correct. Ultimately he flied to left, but that made Englert throw three extra pitches. Every little bit counts. One day, Ballesteros is going to do this and it will come through for him with a key hit.
The Cubs will go for the series win Wednesday evening in St. Petersburg. Colin Rea will make his first 2026 start for the Cubs, and Joe Boyle goes for the Rays. Game time is again 5:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
