For one day, Cubs rediscover winning formula
For one night at least, the Cubs followed a perfect winning formula:
Great starting pitching, timely hitting and a shutdown bullpen.
That’s how the Cubs drew it up for their 5-2 win over the Giants at Wrigley Field Tuesday night in front of 36,297 fans.
“Winning’s a lot cooler,” said starter Justin Steele. “It’s just a lot better.”
Steele and Logan Webb engaged in a classic pitcher’s duel as each starter gave up only one big hit on the evening.
Dansby Swanson drilled a 2-run homer to right-center in the 2nd inning and Giants catcher Curt Casali – who actually started the year with the Cubs’ Triple-A affiliate in Iowa – smacked a 2-run double off Steele in the 5th.
That was all the scoring until the bottom of the 8th when Michael Busch led off with a ringing double off the top of the wall in right-center. Two pitches later, Cody Bellinger poked a base hit through the left side of the infield to bring home Busch and the Cubs added on from there.
Ian Happ and Christopher Morel added RBI singles to provide valuable insurance runs.
“That’s just something that we’ve been really good at at times,” Swanson said. “And what’s made us click is just to be able to continue to keep innings going, to be able to pass the baton to one another. Obviously we ran the bases really well in that inning.
“Just a lot of good baseball things there in the 8th and you know, it’s better late than never.”
Steele struck out 8 in 6.2 strong innings of work. It was his 3rd straight quality start and he has only allowed 4 earned runs in his last 5 outings spanning 31.2 innings (1.14 ERA).
Tyson Miller threw 1.1 innings in relief and Keegan Thompson closed it out with a scoreless 9th inning.
It was Thompson’s 1st save of the season and the 4th of his career. The Cubs liked the matchup for him with 3 right-handers (Matt Chapman, Thairo Estrada, Jorge Soler) up for the Giants.
“Tyson and Keegan both did a really nice job,” Craig Counsell said. “How it works is like Tyson’s getting those 4 guys out set up that inning for Keegan and set up a really good pocket for Keegan with the 3 right-handed hitters. And then Keegan delivered. He’s been he’s been really, really good against right-handed hitters, and he did it again tonight.”
The Cubs are now 35-39 on the season and will turn to Kyle Hendricks in the rubber match Wednesday in search of a series victory.
The Cubs have lost 9 of their last 10 series dating back to mid-May and this will be Hendricks’ first start in almost a month.
