The Chicago Cubs train just keeps on rolling.
Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field, Moisés Ballesteros homered and Michael Busch smacked a bases-loaded triple. That, plus six solid innings from Matthew Boyd, helped the Cubs to an 8-4 win over the Diamondbacks, a series sweep and their 11th consecutive win at home.
Arizona scored first, in the top of the second inning, their first lead of the series. Nolan Arenado doubled with one out and one out later, Gabriel Moreno smacked a home run for a 2-0 lead.
The Cubs chipped away in the second. After the first two Cubs struck out, Busch popped a ball into short center that dropped among three D-backs fielders. Those guys are likely going to be very happy to get out of playing outdoors in the wind. Busch’s ball went for a double.
Carson Kelly’s single cut the Arizona lead to 2-1 [VIDEO].
Pete Crow-Armstrong followed with a double, with Kelly stopping at third, but Dansby Swanson struck out to end the inning.
The Cubs took the lead in the third. Nico Hoerner, back in the lineup after missing a day with a neck issue, beat out an infield grounder for a hit.
Ballesteros launched his sixth homer of the year to make it 3-2 Cubs [VIDEO].
Boyd then started setting down D-backs hitters. After a two-out double in the third, Boyd retired eight of the next nine Arizona batters he faced.
In the meantime, the Cubs extended their lead. Ballesteros drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, followed by Alex Bregman hitting a ground ball to third that wound up as a fielder’s choice when the throw to second was late. Then Ian Happ got a called strike three overturned [VIDEO].
Good call by Happ, and he wound up with a walk to load the bases.
Busch then un-loaded them with this triple [VIDEO].
That was Busch’s first triple of 2026 — he had five last year. More on the bases-loaded three-bagger from BCB’s JohnW53:
Busch’s bases-loaded triple was the Cubs 141st since 1901, only slightly more than one per season. It was their 74th at home and 61st at Wrigley Field. The previous one there was by Nico Hoerner, against the Padres, on April 25, 2023.
They have had two on the road since then, by Cody Bellinger at Philadelphia in 2024 and by Dansby Swanson at Colorado on Aug. 29 of last year.
They have been hit by 113 batters. Busch is the 92nd with one. Frank Schulte and Sammy Sosa hit four; Augie Galan, Ray Grimes and Ryne Sandberg, three.
Boyd completed six innings, allowing just the two runs on the homer. He got out of the sixth on a nifty play by Nico. Corbin Carroll was on first with one out, and he took off on a pitch that got popped into short right.
Here’s the slick double play Hoerner pulled off [VIDEO].
I think that one should end any concerns about whether Nico returned too quickly from the neck issue. That’s a really athletic play and he doesn’t do it unless he’s 100 percent.
As for Boyd, I thought he had a really good outing, the only real mistake the home run ball to Moreno. Boyd struck out five [VIDEO].
Here’s more on Boyd’s afternoon [VIDEO].
Phil Maton threw the seventh and got himself in trouble with a single, hit batter and walk that had originally been called strike three [VIDEO].
That’s about as close as you can get and still get a call overturned. Good call by the hitter. Maton got out of the inning by striking out Ketel Marte.
The Cubs put two more on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Happ led off with a walk, his second of the game. Incidentally, the two walks extended Happ’s on-base streak to 24 consecutive games. Seiya Suzuki followed with a double, with Happ stopping at third.
Busch hit a fly to medium right, scoring Happ [VIDEO].
Suzuki took third on that play and scored on this single by Kelly that made it 8-2 [VIDEO].
Hoby Milner threw a scoreless eighth and then Corbin Martin was summoned to finish things off. He did so, but not before issuing a walk and allowing a two-run homer to pinch-hitter Adrian Del Castillo. Here’s the final out of the game [VIDEO].
The game was pretty much well in hand, but after the home run, Craig Counsell got just-activated Daniel Palencia up in the bullpen and I am pretty sure he didn’t want to have to do that. I suspect Martin will be replaced on the active roster sometime soon, perhaps even tomorrow if there’s someone else at Iowa who could take that roster spot. As always, we await developments.
Aside from the ninth inning, this was another outstanding team effort, with guys stepping up who hadn’t done much the last couple of days. That’s always good to see.
One last note on the game from John:
Michael Busch’s three-run triple in the fifth inning completed a team cycle by the Cubs for the second day in a row. They had had only two in their first 31 games, April 22 and 24.
They won each previous game this year. They were 18-1 a year ago with a team cycle and 11-2 in 2024, for a combined 32-3 before today.
The Reds, Cardinals and Brewers all lost Sunday, so the Cubs, now 10 games over .500 at 22-12, lead the Cardinals and Reds by two games and the Brewers and Pirates by 3.5. Good times.
The Reds come to Wrigley Field to open a four-game series Monday evening, just the second series so far this year for the Cubs against an NL Central rival. Edward Cabrera will start for the Cubs and Chase Petty will go for the Reds. Game time Monday is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
