Suzuki struggling through up-and-down season; Cubs pound Pirates 11-3

After a mysterious two-game absence, Seiya Suzuki returned to the lineup Tuesday as the Cubs opened a big three-game series against the NL-Central leading Pittsburgh Pirates.

A hoard of reporters surrounded Suzuki during pregame availability, searching for the reason why the right fielder did not play in the final two games at San Francisco over the weekend.

The Japanese star offered no details, saying only that he was out with "bad dreams."

Without even knowing it, Suzuki summed up parts of his season in two words because - while he's been fantastic at times - there have also been some nightmarish stretches.

"I feel like I'm doing good and then I'm doing bad," said Suzuki, who went 1-for-4 with a walk in the Cubs' 11-3 victory over Pittsburgh. "The difference there is pretty big, so I just want to make sure I'm more consistent until the end of the season."

Suzuki's hit was a one-out infield single that loaded the bases in the seventh inning. Ian Happ was then hit with a pitch, giving the Cubs a 5-3 lead. Happ also snapped a 33-game homerless drought in the first inning with a 3-run bullet that sailed over the right-field wall.

Pinch hitters racked up 5 RBIs for the Cubs, with Yan Gomes poking a 2-RBI single to right in the seventh, and Christopher Morel hitting a 3-run HR in the eighth.

With the win, the Cubs (29-37) moved within 5½ games of the Pirates (34-31). The game was delayed 70 minutes due to rain.

The Cubs were 6-5 on April 14 when Suzuki, who missed the first two weeks with an oblique injury, made his debut at the Dodgers.

He went 1-for-5 with a home run in an 8-2 victory, then proceeded to go 9-for-22 with 6 walks in his next six games. When the Cubs beat the Dodgers 13-0 at Wrigley Field on April 21, it seemed like the sky was the limit - for the team and Suzuki.

Instead, both fell off quickly.

Suzuki got hits here and there over the next 17 games, but most were meaningless. He hit .200 over that stretch with no home runs and 5 RBIs. Not surprisingly, the Cubs went south as well and dropped to 17-19 after a 6-4 loss to the Cardinals.

Then Suzuki found his groove again. For 18 games.

Then he lost it for six, going a ghastly 1-for-23.

Now - after going 6-for-11 in his last three contests - perhaps he's found it again.

Perhaps.

Suzuki, who signed a five-year deal in 2022, has now played in 162 MLB games, the equivalent of a full season. He's slashing .267/.346/.437 and has 20 home runs with 65 RBIs.

Not bad. Not great - especially considering the expectations.

Suzuki, who has one of the best eyes around when it comes to identifying balls and strikes, admitted Tuesday that he'll generally only go after borderline pitches when his confidence is high.

"When I'm not doing well, all those borderline pitches are balls for me," Suzuki said. "And when it's (a ball), it's hard for me to get my bat out and get those pitches outside.

"But if I'm doing well, they look like strikes and I'm able to get some good barrel on those pitches."

This helps explain why Suzuki has a tendency to go down looking when a pitch just nicks the strike zone. It's an interesting thought process, because most of us were taught to "protect the plate" when there are two strikes.

One has to wonder how much the language barrier is impeding Suzuki's progress as well because while he's understands English much better than last season, speaking with teammates and coaches still isn't easy.

"I'm not 100% sure if everything I'm saying is being relayed to them as perfectly as possible," Suzuki said. "But I'm doing my best to communicate with them on a daily basis."

The coaches are trying too, according to Suzuki's interpreter, Toy Matsushita.

"A lot of them are trying to speak and understand Japanese," he said.

That was news to manager David Ross, who joked: "I need to pick up my game."

"Dangit," Ross added. "Gotta study Japanese today."

In all seriousness, Suzuki does want to learn more English in the coming years. He wanted to take a class in the off-season, but wasn't happy with how his campaign ended and scrapped those plans.

"I felt like I needed to improve my game," Suzuki said. "So I focused on baseball. Obviously if I improve on both aspects - language and baseball - it's going to be a huge benefit for me. But for now I want to focus on my game.

"When the time is right I'll work on my English."