Cubs haven't had a Wrigley winning streak like this one in 91 years

CHICAGO -- After three straight nights of dramatic come-from-behind walk-off victories, the Cubs moved ever closer to matching a 91-year-old mark on Thursday afternoon without needing to raise the heart rates of the 30,411 inside the Friendly Confines.

The North Siders cruised to an 8-3 win over the Reds at Wrigley Field to complete the four-game sweep of their NL Central rival -- this time without any of that nervous energy -- to mark Chicago’s 15th consecutive win at home. It’s the longest winning streak at Wrigley Field since an 18-game stretch in September of 1935, nearly 100 years ago. The franchise record, per team historian Ed Hartig, is a 21-game run back in 1880 at Lakefront Park.

The flare for the dramatics weren’t needed Thursday while the Cubs added to the history books during their ninth straight win, but the North Siders (26-12) continued to look like one of the best teams in baseball behind starter Shota Imanaga.

The left-hander, who tossed seven scoreless in his previous outing, continued his strong season with six frames of one-run ball. He struck out 10, one shy of his season high (11 on April 11 at Philadelphia), with the only run coming on a solo homer from Sal Stewart in the sixth inning. Imanaga loaded the bases with only one out later in the frame, but struck out Ke’Bryan Hayes and Dane Myers to shut down any path for a Reds comeback.

Offensively, the Cubs put the game away in the fourth inning, when 10 batters came to the plate. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Michael Conforto, who opened the scoring with a solo homer in the second, worked a six-pitch RBI walk. Dansby Swanson drove in a run on a mental error by Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson, who failed to tag Ian Happ as he ran home after the forceout was made at third base. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Miguel Amaya and Nico Hoerner each had RBI knocks to follow before Moisés Ballesteros capped off the seven-run frame with a sacrifice fly.

The win moved the Cubs to 19-3 in their last 22 games and 18-5 at home this season. Chicago, which ranked second in baseball entering Thursday at 5.41 runs per game, scored five or more runs in five of the seven games during the undefeated homestand.

But an interesting test awaits Friday night in Texas as Chicago, without Matthew Boyd due to a left meniscus injury, figures out its pitching plan with limited options available to pitch multiple innings.