The Cubs finally had an offensive explosion Wednesday, after what seemed like weeks when the bats weren’t working.
Dansby Swanson’s two-run homer highlighted a seven-run second inning. Now, something like this should generally make the game an easy win. The Cubs, though, did not do that, eventually letting the Rockies come to within two runs before putting the game away 8-6. A win’s a win, right?
Let’s begin at the beginning, or at least that second inning.
After a scoreless first, Alex Bregman began
the second with a walk. Ian Happ popped a little fly ball behind first base that landed between three Rockies fielders for a hit.
Matt Shaw tripled in both runners [VIDEO].
Carson Kelly’s double scored Shaw to make it 3-0 [VIDEO].
Swanson followed with this two-run shot into the bleachers [VIDEO].
That ball did have help from a 13 mile per hour wind blowing out, but Dansby will certainly take it. It was his eighth of the year, but first in nearly a month (previously: May 18 vs. the Brewers) and in between those two games, Swanson batted .135/.238/.176 (10-for-74) with 28 strikeouts. Let’s hope that home run gets Swanson back on track.
The Cubs weren’t done in that second inning. Pete Crow-Armstrong flied out for the first out of the inning. After that Nico Hoerner, another Cub in a terrible slump, singled. He scored on this double by Seiya Suzuki [VIDEO].
Suzuki took third on a single by Michael Busch. Bregman, batting for the second time in the inning, plated Suzuki with this sac fly [VIDEO].
The inning was the Cubs’ biggest in a while. From BCB’s JohnW53:
The seven-run second inning tied for the Cubs’ biggest of the year.
They scored seven in the fourth inning at home against the Reds on May 7 and went on to win, 8-3.
This was the Cubs’ 37th game since then.
The Rockies got on the board with a solo homer by rookie Sterlin Thompson, the first of his career. For those who saw a ball thrown on the field, know this: A friend of mine caught the home run and sent a throwback ball onto the field. The real home run ball was given back to Thompson in exchanged for a signed ball and bat.
The Cubs made the score 8-1 in the fourth on this ball hit by PCA [VIDEO].
The hit was ruled “home run” on the field. The umpires conducted a crew chief review and that ruling was upheld. To be fair… I dunno. It was really hard to tell whether that ball grazed the foul pole, which was the only way it could have been a home run. The Cubs and PCA will take it, of course. A note on the homer from John:
PCA is the third different Cub this season to homer in three straight games. Ian Happ did it twice, March 28-30 and May 27-29. Seiya Suzuki did it April 21-23.
Last year, the Cubs had two streaks of four, by Kyle Tucker and Suzuki, and two of three, by Michael Busch and Happ.
They had two in 2024: five games by Busch and three by Christopher Morel. Five is the franchise record, also by Morel (2023), Sammy Sosa (1998), Ryne Sandberg (1989) and Hack Wilson (1928).
Another PCA note, something worth watching:
The 2026 numbers are up to date. PCA’s last two at-bats in this game, a walk and strikeout, were against RH relievers. Those numbers vs. LHP are, obviously, a significant improvement.
Javier Assad gave up a second home run to Thompson in the fifth and then departed with two out in the sixth, a decent 5.2 inning outing in which those two solo homers were the only runs he allowed. Since Assad was recalled earlier this month: 18 innings, 1.00 ERA, 0.579 WHIP. He and Ben Brown are keeping the tattered Cubs rotation going. More from John:
The third-inning homer off Javier Assad snapped a streak of 15.1 consecutive scoreless innings by him over four appearances, since he served up a leadoff in the ninth inning on the South Side against the White Sox on May 15.
The Cubs failed to score the rest of the way, and left RISP in the eighth. They had a decent scoring chance in the fifth when Ian Happ led off with a double. Happ rather ill-advisedly tried to take third on a fly to center by Shaw and was thrown out [VIDEO].
I didn’t really understand that. At that point it’s 7-2 and you’re already in scoring position on second. Why take that chance?
This game might have been a real “breathe easy” contest, but relievers Ethan Roberts and Jacob Webb, both of whom have been pretty effective recently, made it close. A two-run homer by Hunter Goodman in the eighth off Roberts was part of a three-run inning that made it 8-5, and Webb served up a solo homer to Kyle Karros in the ninth to make it a two-run game. But Webb retired the next two hitters to end the game. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].
Nice pick there by Bregman, incidentally.
The win was the first in which the Cubs did not have to bat in the bottom of the ninth since May 7. The last three wins at home since then were all walk-offs — as were the three in a row right before May 7. The Cubs have now won back-to-back series and five of seven. That’s not like winning 10 straight twice, but it is a start, at least, to maybe making a longer run of things.
Here’s Swanson on his home run and the team offense [VIDEO].
And here are some postgame remarks from Craig Counsell [VIDEO].
One last game note from John:
This was the ninth game of the season in which the Cubs hit for a team cycle, but the first in which they did in the same inning.
They have done that 94 times since 1920, including three last year. In the first of those, a 5-2 win at Miami on May 12, each of the four types of hits were the Cubs’ first four of the inning, as was true tonight: walk, single, triple double, homer.
The Cubs will enjoy their off day Thursday and then will welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to Wrigley Field for a three-game series beginning Friday afternoon. At this time no pitchers are officially listed for Friday’s game, but presuming the Cubs stay on rotation it should be Ben Brown in the series opener, and the Jays should counter with Kevin Gausman. Game time Friday is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and also streaming on Peacock, outside the Cubs and Blue Jays market territories).
