Feel better now?
The Cubs spotted the Pirates a first-inning lead and then brought out the big bats against a bullpen game for the visitors.
Regardless, those bats provided 16 hits. Alex Bregman homered and had three hits and Seiya Suzuki added three, including a triple, and the Cubs won a laugher, 12-2, likely something the whole team badly needed.
Things did not start well for Shōta Imanaga, who allowed a leadoff triple to Konnor Griffin and RBI single to Oneil Cruz and the Pirates had a 1-0 lead after
just two batters. But Imanaga settled down, helped out by Carson Kelly throwing out Cruz trying to steal [VIDEO].
Thus it was still 1-0 entering the bottom of the second when the Cubs began hitting.
Bregman led off with a single and advanced to second on a single by Ian Happ. Nico Hoerner also singled, loading the bases.
Michael Conforto hit this fly ball into the seats that went for a sac fly [VIDEO].
Pedro Ramirez hit into a force play, with Happ taking third. Both runners scored on this double by Kelly [VIDEO].
So it’s 3-1 Cubs heading to the bottom of the third and the Cubs kept hitting. Seiya Suzuki led off with a single and scored on this double by Michael Busch [VIDEO].
After a popup by Bregman, Happ walked, and this fielder’s choice by Nico made it 5-1 [VIDEO].
The five runs produced this fact from BCB’s JohnW53:
This was the 80th game of the season in which the Cubs have scored at least five runs. One more such game means they will have done it in at least half of all their games for the year.
The Cubs last had more such games in 2019, with 82. From 2021-25, they had 65, 56, 78, 73 and 72.
This is the 11th season since 1901 in which they have reached 80 and the fourth this century. They had 84 in 2016 and 87 in 2008, their third most ever.
Their record is 104, in 1930, then 94, in 1929.
But the offense didn’t stop there. Four more Cubs runs crossed the plate in the fourth. Kelly was hit by a pitch and Pete Crow-Armstrong walked. This single by Suzuki made it 6-1 [VIDEO].
PCA took third on that hit. Busch popped a ball into short center that was caught by Griffin, but when he fell over, PCA alertly scored [VIDEO].
And that was followed by Bregman’s 25th homer of the year into the basket [VIDEO].
That made it 9-1, and if the rout hadn’t been on before, it certainly was now.
Imanaga completed six innings and, well, did allow a home run leading off the sixth. That made this game the first time Imanaga had ever allowed two runs to the Pirates, as he’d allowed them one run total in 38 career innings before today. Can’t be too upset about a six-inning, five-hit, two-run start, though. From John:
Shota Imanaga now has 13 quality starts among his 29 of all kinds this season. Matthew Boyd is a distant second among Cubs, with eight, followed by Colin Rea, six. Eight others have one to four.
The Cubs began today with 49, exactly one of every three games, tying them with the Cardinals and Rangers for 16th most, one behind the Angels and Brewers. The Dodgers led by far, with 77 to the Phillies’ runner-up 68.
Here’s more on Imanaga’s outing [VIDEO].
The Cubs increased their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Suzuki’s triple began things, and he scored on a single by Busch. Here are both hits [VIDEO].
Bregman followed with his third hit of the game, a double, with Busch stopping at third. Busch then scored on this sac fly by Tyrone Taylor [VIDEO].
That made it 11-1. Javier Assad relieved Imanaga and allowed an infield hit leading off the seventh but got out of it scoreless, and then the Cubs completed their scoring in the bottom of the inning. Ramirez led off with a double and went to third on a single by Kelly.
PCA drove in Ramirez with a single, giving him 98 RBI for the year [VIDEO].
Daniel Palencia, who’s had a rough time since returning from the IL, was given a low-leverage eighth inning. He issued a one-out walk but got out of the inning scoreless. His velocity did still seem down a tick or two and the Pirates did hit the ball in the air. I suspect Palencia still is not 100 percent.
The Pirates could have opted for a position player to throw the eighth and instead kept Antwone Kelly (not to be confused with Antoine Kelly, who pitched briefly for the Cubs earlier this year) in the game. He threw a 1-2-3 eighth and thus it was left to Trent Thornton to wrap things up. He allowed a leadoff single but retired the next three Pirates, finishing the inning on just seven pitches. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].
This win ought to let you exhale, a bit, after the Cubs lost four in a row, three of them in excruciating fashion in Milwaukee. There’s still work to do, of course. We’ll all be watching the Braves/Phillies game this evening, which features Chris Sale for Atlanta and Aaron Nola for Philadelphia. That game begins at 6:15 CT.
Saturday, the Cubs will send Clay Holmes to the mound to face Pirates ace Paul Skenes. The Cubs, as you know, have handled Skenes pretty well in the past, so hopefully that will happen again. Game time Saturday is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
