Michael Conforto has been an afterthought for most of this Cubs season.
The team didn’t sign him until late February. He got some playing time early on because of the injury to Seiya Suzuki, but since Suzuki’s return April 10, Conforto has played in just 10 games, starting just four of those. He didn’t play at all in the weekend series against the Diamondbacks.
Then Craig Counsell sent him up to bat in the bottom of the ninth Monday for Matt Shaw. Shaw had pinch-run for Moisés Ballesteros in the eighth,
and what I was thinking in that tie-game situation was, “Well, if Conforto gets on, they’ll have to run Nicky Lopez for him.”
Conforto took care of that potential issue by smashing a walk-off home run into the left-field bleachers, giving the Cubs their sixth consecutive win and 12th straight at Wrigley Field, 5-4 over the Reds.
Let’s rewind to the beginning of this back-and-forth affair.
Late Monday morning, the Cubs moved the starting time of this game up 30 minutes to 6:10 p.m. CT in anticipation of some rain and storms that were supposed to hit around 9 p.m. Instead, it started raining just about 6:10, the rain lasting an hour, so the game wound up starting at 7:50. Give the Cubs credit for the attempt, anyway. The sun came out as the rain was ending, producing these beautiful views:
Edward Cabrera got in trouble in the first two innings with hits and walks, but squeezed out of both jams. Then he served up a home-run ball to JJ Bleday leading off the second, and in the third issued a two-out walk. That was followed by Ke’Bryan Hayes smashing one out of the yard to give the Reds a 3-0 lead.
The Cubs couldn’t do anything with Reds rookie right-hander Chase Petty over the first three innings, with just a double by Alex Bregman in the first and single by Nico Hoerner over that time.
An annoying little rainshower parked itself over Wrigley Field in the fourth. That, entirely coincidentally, was when the Cubs rallied. Bregman led off with a walk and Ian Happ also drew a base on balls.
Suzuki took ball one from Petty and then tied the game with his sixth homer of the year [VIDEO].
That ball was absolutely demolished [VIDEO].
That was the longest Cubs home run of 2026 to date, and the sixth-longest by anyone this year. As you can see at that link, Suzuki also had the previous longest Cubs homer this year (441 feet on April 21 vs. the Phillies). Another note on the home-run distance (Bluesky link):
And one last note on Suzuki’s homer from BCB’s JohnW53:
Suzuki’s home run was the Cubs’ seventh this season with two on base, among 45 total homers — 15.6 percent. That is significantly higher than their final percentage in each of their five previous seasons:
2025: 27 of 223 — 12.1
2024: 19 of 170 — 11.2
2023: 15 of 196 — 7.7
2022: 12 of 159 — 7.5
2021: 17 of 210 — 8.1
The rain stopped, this time for good, and Cabrera then pulled off a nice play in the fifth. With one out, Elly De La Cruz singled. Cabrera picked him off [VIDEO].
The play went to review, but as you can see, De La Cruz was clearly out. In the sixth, Cabrera got some help from his defense — this slick stop by Michael Busch [VIDEO].
Cabrera completed six innings, allowing just the three runs, with eight strikeouts [VIDEO].
More on Cabrera’s outing from John:
Cabrera’s three runs in six innings was the Cubs’ 15th quality start in their 35 games. They began the day tied with the Pirates for seventh most QS. Dodgers had 21; Braves and Royals, 17; and Mariners, Tigers and Yankees, 16.
Hoby Milner and Phil Maton threw a scoreless seventh, with Maton entering to throw to Sal Stewart after Milner walked De La Cruz with two out. Maton, who has pitched much better since his return from the IL, got Stewart to ground out to end the inning.
The Cubs, though, could not score in the fifth, sixth or seventh, and then Ben Brown gave up a run in the eighth. Uncharacteristically a bit wild, Brown walked Nathaniel Lowe leading off the inning. Leadoff walks, as most managers will tell you, are never good. The Reds sent Blake Dunn in to run for Lowe, and Dunn immediately stole second. That was important, as Spencer Steer’s single scored Dunn to give the Reds a 4-3 lead.
The Cubs had a good scoring chance in the eighth. Ballesteros led off with a walk and, as noted earlier, Shaw ran for him. Shaw was immediately erased on a force play by Bregman. A wild pitch moved Bregman to second and after Happ struck out, Suzuki ran a 3-1 count before being intentionally passed. Busch walked to load the bases, but Carson Kelly also struck out, ending the inning.
Ryan Rolison, who’s had an up-and-down year for the Cubs so far, was definitely “up” in this game. He struck out all three Reds he faced in the top of the ninth, throwing 14 pitches.
Pete Crow-Armstrong led off the bottom of the ninth with a triple [VIDEO].
As you can see in the clip, Dane Myers almost made a spectacular catch against the ivy, but the ball went in and out of his glove, and PCA raced around the bases, safe easily at third. A note on the triple:
Dansby Swanson then struck out, but Nico then hit a fly ball deep enough in left to score PCA with the tying run [VIDEO].
That brought up Conforto, batting for Shaw. He ran the count full against Reds closer Emilio Pagan. And then… BOOM! [VIDEO]
Here’s a cool field level view of Conforto’s blast [VIDEO].
For Conforto, it was his first career walk-off home run. That entire ninth inning was something. Triples are perhaps the most exciting play in baseball, and PCA running the bases is always fun to watch. The walk-off homer wakes up and excites a crowd no matter who hits it. I’m really happy for Conforto, who has settled very well into his bench role on this team — now batting .323/.436/.548. It’s only 39 plate appearances for Conforto, but he has definitely made important contributions.
Here’s Conforto on the home run [VIDEO].
One more note on Conforto’s walk-off:
Hopefully, there will be more Conforto homers to come in a Cubs uniform.
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame remarks [VIDEO]. In particular, the Cubs manager has major praise for what Conforto did in that ninth-inning situation.
Last note on this game from John:
This was the first game of the season in which the Cubs erased two deficits. They had erased one in 12 earlier games. They are 10-3 when they have erased at least one. They lost the first two, won eight in a row, lost last Monday at San Diego, then won Sunday and tonight.
I have written this before and I’m going to say it again: There is something special about this team. Every single player on the roster has made significant contributions to winning. That, I believe, is the mark of a really good team. They all pick each other up — and in this team’s case, even in the face of major pitching injuries. The season to date has been really enjoyable. Let’s hope that continues … all the way through October.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this recap, this was the Cubs’ sixth win in a row. They did not win six in a row all of last year. Now they have two streaks at least that long in 2026 — and we are only 35 games into the season.
Last note: The Cubs are on a 16-3 run since April 14, the best record in MLB in that span, and have scored the most runs over that period, 117 (6.2 per game). They’ve allowed 78 runs over the 19 games, or 4.1 per game.
The Cubs and Reds meet again at Wrigley Field Tuesday evening. Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs and Andrew Abbott goes for Cincinnati. Game time is 6:40 p.m. CT (this time for sure, it will be cool but dry this evening) and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
