Third time's a charm! Cubs' trifecta of walk-offs extends home streak to 14

CHICAGO -- Pete Crow-Armstrong pounded his chest and let out a howl as he rounded second base in the ninth inning on Wednesday night. The game-tying, two-run homer by the Cubs center fielder set the stage for yet another drama-filled win for a team owning its home territory at a record clip right now.

Following Crow-Armstrong’s heroics in the ninth, Michael Busch drew a bases-loaded walk in the 10th, authoring a familiar result -- a victory at home in walk-off fashion. In fact, the 7-6 win over the Reds marked the Cubs’ third straight walk-off, and 14th consecutive win at the Friendly Confines, tying the second-longest run of its kind for the franchise in the ballpark’s history.

The National League Central-leading North Siders have enjoyed a 14-game winning streak at home seven times in the Modern Era (since 1900) -- most recently in 2008. The only longer streak was an 18-game stretch in September of 1935. And the franchise record, per team historian Ed Hartig, is a 21-game run back in 1880 at Lakefront Park.

The latest win for the Cubs -- now 18-3 in their last 21 games -- came after the club beat the Reds with walk-offs in back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday. A third walk-off in a row against the same team? The Cubs had not done that since Sept. 27-28, 1943, against the New York Giants, per Hartig.

The Cubs last had three straight walk-off wins from June 18-20, 2009, against the White Sox and Cleveland.

With two outs in the opening frame, Alex Bregman singled to right off Reds starter Brady Singer and Ian Happ followed by sending a 3-1 cutter to the bleachers in left-center field. The blast gave Chicago a 2-1 lead and charted the course to a 17-5 ledger at home -- the Cubs’ best start to a campaign at Wrigley since 1985 (also 17-5).

For Happ, the home run (his ninth of the year) also extended his career-best on-base streak to 27 games, dating back to Game 2 of a doubleheader against Cleveland on April 5. That represents the longest on-base streak for a Cubs batter since Bryan LaHair had a 30-game streak during the 2012 season.

Happ added a leadoff single in the fourth inning, and then scored from first base on Seiya Suzuki’s double into the left-field corner. Two batters later, Suzuki crossed the plate on a double-play groundout from Carson Kelly, giving the Cubs a 4-2 lead that was erased by a four-run rally in the ninth by Cincinnati.