Last year, even while Nico Hoerner was having a very good offensive season, he did not hit his first home run until June 24 — the Cubs’ 79th game, and his 75th game of the year.
Nico’s off to a great start at the plate and Wednesday, in the Cubs’ (and his) 12th game of 2026, he homered and had three hits, helping lead the Cubs to a 6-2 win over the Rays
and their first road series win of the season.It didn’t take long for that homer, either — it was hit off Joe Boyle’s sixth pitch of the game, a sharp
line drive to left [VIDEO].
More on Nico’s leadoff homer from BCB’s JohnW53:
Nico Hoerner had led off a game on the road with a home run once before, at Milwaukee on June 30, 2024.
Sixty different Cubs have done it a total of 115 times since 1910, first season for which baseball-reference.com has searchable play-level data.
Alfonso Soriano leads by far, with 12. Dexter Fowler hit seven; Ian Happ, Brian McRae and Rick Monday, five. Seven hit three, including Michael Busch. Happ is the 12th with two. Thirty-six hit one.
So the Cubs right away had a 1-0 lead. Colin Rea’s solid pitching held the Rays down for two innings, but they tied the game in the third on a single, stolen base, ground out and sacrifice fly.
Then the Cubs blew the game open in the fifth. Carson Kelly led off with a double. Then Moisés Ballesteros walked (it was called a ball, challenged by Rays catcher Hunter Feduccia, and upheld). Dansby Swanson also walked, loading the bases with nobody out.
Michael Conforto’s double (plus an error) cleared the bases [VIDEO].
As you can see, that didn’t miss being a grand slam by much. Conforto took third on the error and scored on this double by Nico [VIDEO].
Michael Busch was the next hitter [VIDEO].
That completed the Cubs’ five-run inning and made the score 6-1.
Rea, substituting for Cade Horton after Horton’s elbow diagnosis put him out for the year, pitched admirably, completing five innings and allowing just two hits and one run. Rea threw 79 pitches (51 strikes). Here’s more on Rea’s outing [VIDEO].
And more on Rea from John:
Colin Rea allowed one run on two hits in 5.0 innings. It was just the 35th such start by a Cub since 1901. Adbert Alzolay and Kyle Hendricks each had two. Hendricks was the last to do it before Rea, on May 12, 2014, at Pittsburgh.
Rea is the 14th of those 35 who gave up two singles. Zach Davies was the previous one, at home against the Reds on May 29, 2021.
Of those 14, only Davis and Angel Guzman, in 2007, had walked two, as Rea did. They both struck out three. Rea fanned one.
Hoby Milner relieved Rea and threw a 1-2-3 sixth. Ben Brown followed with two innings, allowing two hits and a run and striking out three. Hunter Harvey, who had strugged in the early going, finished up, allowing a leadoff single to Chandler Simpson but then getting three outs in order. Simpson stole second but was thrown out by Carson Kelly trying to steal third [VIDEO].
Here’s the final out, a strikeout on a splitter [VIDEO].
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].
And here are Nico’s comments on the game and his three-hit evening [VIDEO].
Last note on Nico from John:
Nico Hoerner finished a triple shy of a cycle. It was the first time in his 716 big league games that he had done that. Since 1901, a Cub has done it exactly 700 times, including 12 last year. The most recent was Ian Happ, also against the Rays, at Wrigley Field on Sept. 12.
So the Cubs put together another solid offensive performance — nine hits, four walks — and got really good pitching from Rea and the three relievers. In the comments from both Counsell and Hoerner, they praise Rea and his ability to step into a starting role when needed. He did it well last year and I have no doubt he can do it again in 2026.
The Cubs thus wrap their first road trip of 2026 with a 3-3 mark and are also even-up for the season at 6-6. Which is not a bad spot to be in, especially after losing two starting pitchers to injury. This team seems resilient and should be able to handle that, and it seems likely that one of those pitchers (Matthew Boyd) will be back soon.
Thus the Cubs should enjoy their off day Thursday before they begin a one-series, three-game homestand against the Pirates at Wrigley Field Friday afternoon. Shōta Imanaga will start Friday for the Cubs and Carmen Mlodzinski will go for Pittsburgh. Game time Friday is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
