SAN DIEGO – The offensive outburst that swung the momentum for the Cubs on Tuesday night was a story in three parts.
There was Nico Hoerner, delivering in the clutch as his incredible opening month is approaching its finish line. Alex Bregman came off the bench – after what was supposed to be a day off – coming through with a pinch-hit. And then Pete Crow-Armstrong put the 8-3 victory in the bag with a three-run homer that ended a prolonged power outage.
“Playing with the lead against this team is enormous,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s something you have to do. We did a nice job of that.”
It added up to a win that snapped the modest three-game losing streak for Chicago after it had rattled off 10 straight wins behind an offense that scored in bunches. And it clinched the 900th career managerial victory for Counsell.
Here’s a look at the three key hits that made it happen:
1. Hoerner in the clutch
In the sixth inning, Hoerner came up with the game caught in a 2-2 deadlock and two runners aboard with two outs. He sent a pitch from David Morgan into the right-center-field gap and turned on the burners hunting down a two-run hustle double. When Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill bobbled the ball, Hoerner pumped his fist and reached second easily.
“Obviously, he can put a bat to ball on anything,” Bregman said. “But I feel like one of the reasons for his success with runners in scoring position this year is the ability to get a good pitch and hit it hard from line to line.”
Through 30 games, Hoerner is hitting .293 with four homers, eight doubles, 26 RBIs, 13 walks and only 14 strikeouts in 141 plate appearances. He has hit .308 with men on base and .289 with runners in scoring position (after hitting .371 with RISP last season).
With that hit, Hoerner joined Javier Báez (2019), Derrek Lee (2005) and Sammy Sosa (1995) as the only Cubs in the Wild Card Era (since 1995) with at least 25 RBIs and 35 hits in the Cubs’ first 30 games of a season.
“It was a big hit,” Counsell said. “Obviously, it puts us ahead and kind of lines up the game pretty good.”
2. Bregman delivers in a pinch
Bregman was out of the starting lineup due to a minor left foot issue, stemming from when he was hit by a pitch on Sunday against the Dodgers. The third baseman went through a pregame workout on Tuesday and felt improved and was informed by bench coach Ryan Flaherty mid-game to be ready to hit.
“I was ready to roll,” Bregman said. “Yesterday was a 10 out of 10 [pain wise]. Today is like a 2 out of 10, so it’s a lot better – thanks to our training staff. It was great. Today, I could actually bounce around a little bit more, which was nice.”
In the seventh, he was called upon to pinch-hit against lefty Wandy Peralta with runners on the corners and two outs. Bregman was feeling improved, but the Cubs also became thinner on the bench after shortstop Dansby Swanson exited early with a left glute issue. Hoerner shifted to short, Nicky Lopez took over at second and Bregman’s entrance increased in probability.
Bregman pushed a single to right field, giving the Cubs a 5-3 edge.
“We’re going to consider him a part-time player now,” Counsell joked. “I feel like he’s a really good option off the bench.”
3. PCA finds his power
Bregman’s hit set the stage for Crow-Armstrong, who had not belted a home run since April 7. The center fielder pulled out of his drought (one spanning 77 plate appearances) by launching a 1-1 changeup from Peralta to center, where it just cleared the wall beyond the reach of Merrill’s glove.
“I thought he was going to catch that,” Crow-Armstrong said.
The blast was only the second of the year for Crow-Armstrong, who entered the night with the fourth-most left-on-left pitches seen (201) in the Majors this year, per Statcast. While the center fielder has struggled to get his offense rolling, he did have a .261 average and .346 on-base percentage against lefties going into the game.
“I absolutely think that the amount of left-on-left that I’ve seen this year,” he said, “is definitely a blessing in disguise. Left-on-left is hard. It’s definitely proven to be hard for me, but I think I’ve gotten really good looks.”
That certainly was the case in Tuesday’s win.
“It’s a huge swing,” Counsell said. “It just changes the game – changes just the energy of the game.”