Okay, this is getting at least a bit concerning.
Maybe it’s just the hot, humid weather in Cincinnati, but Cubs pitchers are giving up home runs at an alarming rate. Three more Reds balls left the yard at GABP after five on Friday, and the Reds defeated the Cubs for the third straight night, 6-3.
Javier Assad and Zack Littell matched zeroes for the first two innings and then the Cubs got on the board in the top of the third on a one-out solo homer by Michael Busch, his 30th [VIDEO].
That ball was absolutely
crushed! [VIDEO]
Here are some Cubs 30-HR facts from BCB’s JohnW53:
Michael Busch is only the 27th different Cub to hit at least 30 home runs in a season. He is the 13th with one. The three most recent of those were Fred McGriff (2002), Moises Alou (2004) and Javier Baez (2018).
Sammy Sosa had 11 such seasons; Ernie Banks, seven; Billy Williams, five; and Anthony Rizzo, Ron Santo, Hank Sauer and Hack Wilson, four. That adds up to 39 of the total 68 seasons.
And this feat is even rarer for a Cubs left-handed hitter. Busch is just the eighth lefty batter to have a 30-homer season for the Cubs. The other seven: Williams (five), Rizzo (four), Kyle Schwarber (two) and Fred McGriff, Rick Monday, Henry Rodriguez and Rick Wilkins, one each.
So that was good. Assad giving up a pair of runs to the Reds in the bottom of the third, not so much. He almost got out of the inning with just one run scoring, but this ball took a hop on Dansby Swanson to score the second run [VIDEO].
The Cubs tied the game up 2-2 in the fifth on another solo homer, this one by Reese McGuire [VIDEO].
In a very small sample size, McGuire has enjoyed hitting at GABP this year. You remember his two-homer debut for the Cubs last May, I’m sure. McGuire is 4-for-8 at Cincinnati in 2025 with three home runs.
The tie did not last long. Drew Pomeranz relieved Assad in the fifth and served up a home run to Spencer Steer, his third in the last two games. That gave the Reds a 3-2 lead and they made it 4-2 in the seventh off Aaron Civale on their second homer of the game, this one from TJ Friedl. Ian Happ ended that inning with this nice grab in left field [VIDEO].
The Cubs did attempt to mount a comeback. Willi Castro, who seemingly hasn’t had a hit for the Cubs in weeks, led off the eighth with a double that bounced into the seats in left.
McGuire drove him in with this double, his second hit of the game [VIDEO].
Kevin Alcántara ran for McGuire. Busch flied to left, but Alcántara could not advance. An infield hit by Nico Hoerner put Alcántara on third with one out, so the tying run was 90 feet away. Unfortunately, there it stayed when Happ struck out and Moisés Ballesteros grounded out.
Should Nico have tried to steal second at some point there? The Cubs’ pace of steals has slowed down again — just nine attempts in their last nine games and only five successful steals. This offense seems to do better when they run, at least a bit.
Still, down only one run heading to the bottom of the eighth seemed possible for another comeback, that is, until Tyler Stephenson smashed a two-run homer off the usually-reliable Andrew Kittredge and that was basically that, as the Cubs went down scoreless in the ninth, despite a two-out double by Matt Shaw.
Here are some postgame comments from Craig Counsell:
With the Padres defeating the White Sox 7-3 in Chicago Saturday evening, the Cubs’ magic number to clinch the NL’s top wild card spot remained at 4. It also means the earliest the Cubs can clinch is Tuesday evening at home vs. the Mets. You might say not to worry, but look what’s happening to the Tigers right now — they are only a game ahead of the Guardians in the AL Central after being 9.5 games up with 16 remaining. Cleveland has won 10 straight while Detroit has lost eight of nine.
I don’t think it will come to anything like that, as the Cubs head home after Sunday and they are 46-27 at Wrigley Field this year. Still, nothing is clinched until it’s clinched, which sounds like a cliché but really isn’t. The Cubs really need to stop this losing streak right here. This now stands as the Cubs’ fifth three-game losing streak this year — but second this month. Enough, now. Also, the Reds now stand just one game behind the Mets for the final wild card spot and Cincinnati holds the tiebreaker. So the last week of the season could be about to get interesting, if things aren’t interesting enough already.
The Cubs will look to salvage the final game of this four-game series Sunday afternoon at GABP, which is also their final regular-season road game of 2025. Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs and Andrew Abbott goes for Cincinnati. Game time Sunday is 12:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and MLB Network outside the Cubs and Reds market territories).
The BCB game preview will post at 10:30 a.m. CT.
