Cubs Takeaways: What we learned as bats explode in rout of Cardinals
Friday was a no-good, very bad day for the Cubs’ offense amidst a tough offensive stretch.
It’s doom and gloom, the sky is falling, right? Well, as Marquee Sports Network analyst Cliff Floyd and the Cubs players preached after Friday’s loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, you have to come back the next day and brush off the previous day.
The Cubs did that – boy, did they.
The offense exploded after Friday night’s shutout loss, scoring in the first five frames and whacking the Cardinals 9-1 at Busch Stadium on Saturday. The Cubs (67-49) received hits from six of their nine hitters and put the Cardinals in a hole they wouldn’t be able to dig out of.
Here are three takeaways from the win over the Cardinals (59-59):
Persistent attack
How do you snap an offense out of a funk? Well, there’s no definitive answer, but a fast and relentless start never hurts – and that’s exactly what the Cubs offense did Saturday in St. Louis.
Michael Busch led the game off with a double, scored two batters later on a single from Kyle Tucker and then the Cubs’ right fielder scored on a Carson Kelly single and a Willson Contreras gaffe a batter later.
That was just the beginning.
An inning later, Dansby Swanson singled with an out, Matt Shaw walked and Busch delivered a first-pitch home run to crack the game wide open. Seiya Suzuki followed with a double, scored, the Cubs had scored six runs before they had recorded six outs and Cardinals manager Oli Marmol yanked starter Andre Pallante.
The Cubs went on to score in the next three innings and never gave the Cardinals a sniff of coming back.
It was a dream start for an offense that had been scuffling of late. It was a stark contrast to the dormant offense on Friday. The Cubs were shut out and never really looked threatening in the loss to St. Louis.
Is this the catalyst that puts the Cubs offense back on track? No one knows, but it’s a good sign regardless and was a flashback to the offense that ran rampant on opposing pitchers in the first half.
1-2-3
Yesterday, we discussed the collective struggles of the Cubs’ top four hitters. In case you missed it, Busch, Suzuki, Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong entered Saturday slashing .194/.302/.332 (.634 OPS with seven home runs and 21 RBI since the All-Star break.
All four have been scuffling, and three of that quartet sparked that offense on Saturday. Busch, Suzuki and Tucker – the top three hitters in the lineup – finished 4-for-13 with four RBI, five runs, two walks, two doubles and a home run.
We won’t gloss over the fact that Crow-Armstrong wasn’t as fruitful on Saturday – he finished 0-for-5 and is 2-for-29 (.069) with 12 strikeouts in the month of August.
But you can eek by with one or even two of those guys struggling at the plate. When all four are in a rut, well, we’ve seen what happens. Shaw’s breakout in the second half has been nice, Ian Happ appears to have found his footing, and Nico Hoerner and Swanson have been solid lately. But if this offense is going to fire on all cylinders like it did to open the year, they need their quartet to hit the groove.
They hope Saturday is the start of returning to that.
Rea Day
When the Cubs signed Colin Rea in the winter, they figured he’d cover plenty of innings for them. They thought he’d make some starts. They knew he’d pitch in relief other times.
They didn’t expect – but will gladly take – a solid lynchpin in their rotation.
OK, OK, you look at his numbers (4.09 ERA, 1.30 WHIP) and they aren’t flashy, and you question if “lynchpin” fits in this context.
But consider this, the Cubs are 14-6 in games that Rea has started and are 17-7 in games he’s pitched in this season. He’s turned in 116.2 innings this season, the second-most on the team, behind Matthew Boyd.
Rea has been a stabilizing force, and he showed that on Saturday.
Over his last eight starts, Rea has a 3.53 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP in 43.1 innings. That’s significant because it’s come at a time when Jameson Taillon has been on the injured list, that’s compounded the long list of injuries that have struck the Cubs’ rotation. As some of those arms return to health, Rea has entrenched his spot on this team.
Rea was brought in this offseason for depth – he’s been that and much, much more for the Cubs this season.
