Suzuki saves the day for Cubs with 'unbelievable catch'

CHICAGO -- All the momentum the Cubs had built throughout Tuesday night, and maybe even over the last week-plus, was a few inches away from potentially being wiped out. That was until Chicago right fielder Seiya Suzuki made a spectacular catch that will join the long list of memorable Crosstown moments.

Suzuki glided back to the Guaranteed Rate Field warning track, made a perfectly-timed leap and reached over the wall to steal away a would-be grand slam from White Sox third baseman Yoán Moncada. There was a collective mix of cheers and gasps, and what looked like the slightest of smiles from Suzuki, following a critical turn in the North Siders' 7-3 victory over the South Siders.

“I thought it was gone, for sure,” Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks said. “And then he made it look so casual -- kind of nonchalant. Just an unreal catch. Unbelievable catch. Changed the scope of that game right there.”

The catch transformed that potential slam into a sacrifice fly, keeping a late White Sox rally from exploding into anything more than a morale-booster for the hosts. It helped the Cubs march to their sixth win in seven games -- a stretch during which they have posted a +26 run differential.

“I felt like I could make that play, so I just went at it,” Suzuki said via his translator, Toy Matsushita. “That’s actually my first time robbing a home run, so personally, I was just really happy.”

And then there is a larger storyline that will persist for one more week: Will the Cubs’ front office decide to add, subtract or stand pat at the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline? Well, this was one of those all-around team victories that fuels the idea that maybe, _just maybe_, this team can make a run over the final two months.

“It’s fun for y'all to write about and fun for us to make their job challenging,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “We’ve been playing really well recently. I love our at-bats. I love the way we’re playing defense, the way the pitching staff’s going. It’s fun to be a part of a collective group that believes in one another.”

There were certainly plenty of highlight-worthy performances in the latest win, too:

• Swanson slugged a pair of home runs, marking his first multiblast day since donning a Cubs jersey. That included hitting an elevated fastball from Michael Kopech in the second inning that was 3.77 feet off the ground, per Statcast. That’s the highest pitch Swanson had ever hit for a homer.

• Nico Hoerner ended his evening with one home run, two stolen bases and three hits. That made him the first Cubs player to hit those marks in a game since Jason Heyward on April 6, 2019. It has been done 15 times in modern club history.

• Overall, the Cubs had four homers (Christopher Morel also went deep) and five steals. Per team historian Ed Hartig, the Cubs have not had a game with at least four homers and five steals since July 28, 1888.

• Hendricks turned in four perfect innings to open his outing and held the White Sox to a 1-for-19 showing across the first six frames.

“Kyle's performance was really good, for starters,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “He just was in a nice rhythm, a lot of soft contact, a lot of swing and miss. I love the way the offense came out. Dansby, great game. Guys just up and down the lineup just swinging the bat really well.”

The Cubs now sit six games back of first place in the National League Central, are even closer to the crowded Wild Card field and entered Tuesday with a 14.2 percent chance of making the playoffs, per FanGraphs. The North Siders are also the closest they have been to .500 (49-51) since June 24.

Going back even further, the Cubs were 10 games below the break-even mark on June 8, but have posted a 23-15 record since that point. For perspective, Hartig noted that only the 1968 and 1996 Cubs have reached .500 in a season again after falling at least 10 games under the line.

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has stated multiple times that reaching .500 again is a key data point for decision-making right now. And the players in the room would love nothing more than to meet that goal, convincing the front office to stick with the group in place beyond the Deadline.

“You see where the potential is,” Hendricks said. “We know we’ve got everything we need in this clubhouse. It’s a great group. The camaraderie is really good. We’re really close. So, yeah, we can’t wait to kind of put it all together and go on a run, no matter what.”