With home field in the Wild Card Series against the Padres on the line Saturday on another gorgeous late-September afternoon at Wrigley Field, Michael Busch put the team on his proverbial shoulders. He
homered twice, tripled, doubled and drove in four runs as the Cubs defeated the Cardinals 7-3, clinching that home field. Thus the Cubs and Padres will meet beginning Tuesday at Wrigley Field, time TBD. (If I had to guess right now, I’d say that game will be mid-afternoon, but we’ll find out for sure likely on Monday.)
On to this one. Jameson Taillon had a bit of baserunning traffic in the first and then Busch got right to work, hitting Michael McGreevy’s very first pitch out of the yard [VIDEO].
From that we have the first of several fun facts from BCB’s JohnW53:
Michael Busch’s home run was his fifth this season as the Cubs’ first batter of the game: three on the road and two at home.
Ian Happ did it twice, once at home and once on the road.
I have documented 263 first-batter homers by a Cub since 1876. Alfonso Soriano has the most, 22, followed by Jimmy Ryan, 19; Rick Monday, 17; Dexter Fowler, 12; Abner Dalrymple and Brian McRae, 8; and Happ, 7.
The game remained 1-0 until the top of the fourth. Jamo got some help from Nico Hoerner on this play to end the second [VIDEO].
In the fourth, Nolan Arenado tied it with a solo homer. In the interim Busch had doubled for his second hit of the game, and in the bottom of the fifth with Matt Shaw on base (after Shaw had forced Dansby Swanson, who had walked), Busch smashed his second homer of the game [VIDEO].
That gave the Cubs a lead they would not relinquish. More on that homer from John:
Busch’s second home run was the Cubs’ 100th this season at Wrigley Field.
It was their 17th at Wrigley this year vs. the Cardinals, tying for their most ever at home vs. the Cards with 1954, 1955 and 1961. The teams met in 11 games on the North Side each of those years. Today’s game was just their fifth this year.
Michael Busch has hit nine homers vs. the Cardinals this season, tying for the most in a year against the Cards by any Cub with Hack Wilson, in 1929, and Ernie Banks, in 1955. Wilson did it in 21 games; Banks, in 22. Busch has done it in 11 games. He did not play in one Cubs-Cards game.
Wilson hit his nine in 21 games. Banks hit his nine in 22 games.
A Cub has hit eight vs. the Cards in six seasons: Wilson, 1928 and 1930; Rogers Hornsby, 1929; Bill Nicholson, 1941; and Banks, 1958 and 1960.
Sammy Sosa is among eight who hit seven. Among the others: Hank Sauer, 1954; Dave Kingman, 1979; Ryne Sandberg, 1990; and Moises Alou, 2003.
Some of that would change one inning later when Seiya Suzuki homered, his 31st [VIDEO].
That made it 4-1 Cubs. The update from John:
Seiya Suzuki’s home run was the Cubs’ 18th at Wrigley Field this year vs. the Cardinals, their most ever at home vs. the Cards.
That would wind up changing again a couple of innings later. The Cardinals, in the meantime, made it 4-3 when Jordan Walker smacked a two-run homer off Caleb Thielbar in the top of the seventh. The Cubs got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. Shaw led off with a walk and Busch was credited with an RBI triple on this hit [VIDEO].
From John, about that triple:
Michael Busch is the first Cub since 1901 with multiple home runs, a triple and at least one double in a game.
He is the 105th with two or more homers and at least one double. Pete Crow-Armstrong did it twice this season and Kyle Tucker did it once.
The Cubs put the game away in the bottom of the eighth. Suzuki led off with a walk and one out later, Pete Crow-Armstrong matched his “step brother” with his 31st homer [VIDEO].
And so, that fact needed to be updated yet again from John:
The Cubs’ four home runs raised their total to 19 at Wrigley Field this year vs. the Cardinals, their most ever at home vs. the Cards. They had hit 17 in 1954, 1955 and 1961. The teams met in 11 games on the North Side each of those years. Today’s game was just their fifth this year.
Swanson doubled and stole third after PCA’s homer. That gave the Cubs four players with 20 or more steals (Swanson, PCA, Hoerner and Kyle Tucker). This is the first time since 1923 (!) that the Cubs have had four players with 20 or more stolen bases (George Grantham, Cliff Heathcote, Arnold Statz and Sparky Adams). The 160 team steals ranks third in MLB, two behind the Brewers, and is also the team’s most since 1985, when they had 182.
Later in the eighth, Busch came up again with a chance to hit a single for the cycle. The Cardinals intentionally walked him, to a loud chorus of boos. Which raised this interesting question to me: What if a team could refuse an intentional walk? In a situation like that, the Cubs might have — with a four-run lead, maybe give Busch a chance to hit. Would you be in favor of a rule change like that?
Brad Keller was summoned to throw the ninth, presumably just to get some work. He did not have a great inning, loading the bases on two singles and a walk. But he then recorded this strikeout to end the game [VIDEO].
Taillon was outstanding again in this one, allowing just the solo homer by Arenado. He struck out eight [VIDEO].
Here’s more on Taillon’s outing [VIDEO].
Taillon could be quite useful in the postseason, though at this point he wouldn’t be able to go until Thursday, which would be a deciding Game 3 against the Padres. Of course, the big story of the day is the injury to Cade Horton and his placement on the injured list (and thanks to Josh for writing that up while I was at Wrigley Field), meaning Horton couldn’t pitch until the NLCS.
Here’s Jed Hoyer talking about this injury on the game broadcast [VIDEO].
So the Cubs will just have to make do with Matthew Boyd, Shōta Imanaga and maybe Taillon against the Padres. The good news is that the Cubs do have several pitchers (Colin Rea, Aaron Civale, Michael Soroka) who could put together multiple relief innings. Somehow, I think they’ll make it work.
In the meantime, the Cubs have one final regular-season game, and I’d expect a lot of the regulars to get some rest as this game doesn’t have any postseason implications. Javier Assad will start for the Cubs Sunday. At this writing, the Cardinals do not have a starter listed, it’s possible they’ll go with a bullpen game. Note that game time Sunday is an hour later than usual, 2:20 p.m. CT, and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
