Cubs survive extreme heat by clubbing 5 home runs
On a dangerous day for baseball, the Cubs found a foolproof plan for winning a game — outhomer the opposition 5-1.
The Cubs had some sloppy moments in the wind and extreme heat Saturday, but also rode that breeze to a 10-7 win over Seattle at steamy Wrigley Field on Saturday.
There were several weather-related issues in this game. Home-plate umpire Chad Whitson exited after five innings, and the team finished the game with three umps. In the eighth, Mariners pitcher Trent Thornton stepped off the mound and nearly passed out. He got noticeably weak-kneed and had to be helped back to the dugout.
By the late innings, seats at Wrigley Field that were still in the sun were far less than half-full as fans bailed early.
The Cubs struggled more with the wind and sun early in the game, botching three catchable fly balls in the outfield — two by Pete Crow-Armstrong and one by Ian Happ.
“The ball goes in the air, you're in trouble,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “And it was weird. There were a bunch of pop ups that were way out of play that came back into play eventually. Conditions we just don't play in, and you see what it does to the best players in the world, right?”
Hitting the ball into the seats can solve plenty of issues. Happ belted two home runs, one in each of the first two innings. He connected on the first pitch of the game from Seattle starter Emerson Hancock.
Speaking of heat, Happ has 7 home runs in his last 11 contests, four in the past three. Saturday's pair moved him past Kris Bryant for 15th place on the Cubs' all-time list with 161. He's also the first Cub to hit leadoff home runs on consecutive days since Anthony Rizzo in 2017.
“When you're sitting there in the middle of May with 3 homers, it's definitely frustrating,” Happ said. “Just want to do more and want to help more. But I've done this long enough that I have confidence it's going to show up at some point, just keep making the right swings.”
Crow-Armstrong hit his 21st of the season, a line drive into the right field corner. Kyle Tucker followed Happ in the first inning with his 14th and Michael Busch blasted a 3-run shot in the third, which put the Cubs ahead 9-1.
While the outfielders eventually figured out the wind. Happ talked about what made it so tough.
“You're trying to get behind the ball as much a you can,” he said. “But everything in your brain is telling you, from all the fly balls you've had in the past, where that ball's going to land. So to recalibrate can be challenging. The sun was in a bad spot for (PCA) there in the first couple innings. We'll be better next time.”
Meanwhile, Cubs pitchers had some struggles but did an amazing job keeping the ball in the park until Seattle's Cal Raleigh hit his 30th of the season in the ninth inning off Daniel Palencia. Even that was an opposite-field shot that landed in the first row of the bleachers.
Cubs starter Cade Horton would have qualified for the win if not for an errant throw by third baseman Vidal Brujan that prolonged the fifth inning and led to 3 unearned runs. As an Oklahoma native, Horton is used to heat and he tried to channel former Cub Kyle Hendricks, who always preached “ignore the wind.”
“That's exactly right,” Horton said. “You can't control the wind, so why worry about it? That takes away from making a pitch. At the end of the day, you've got to control what you can, and that's throwing the pitch you need to and want to.”
Counsell gave a game MVP nod to reliever Brad Keller. He replaced Drew Pomeranz in the sixth with runners at first and third with nobody out. Keller struck out Julio Rodriguez, Raleigh and Jorge Polanco to end the inning with no damage and preserve a 10-6 lead.
“That was really cool. Big moment,” Keller said. “Trying to preserve Pom's (0.00) ERA there, he's been doing amazing.”