SAN DIEGO -- Ben Brown held a raised fist at his side and then gave one hard slap of his glove as he walked off the Petco Park mound in the eighth inning on Wednesday afternoon. Five pitches was all the Cubs reliever needed to escape one of the toughest jams of his team’s season to date.
“That was the game,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s as tough a situation as you can come into and he crushed it.”
The Cubs escaped San Diego with a 5-4 victory to seal a series win over the Padres, and have Brown’s eighth-inning Houdini act to thank.
With the North Siders clinging to a 5-3 lead, the Padres had bases loaded and no outs after Cubs reliever Corbin Martin issued three consecutive walks. Due up were Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado -- a pair of stars who helped fuel the “Slam Diego” moniker with their power displays for the Padres.
Tatis has four grand slams in his career, while Machado is the active leader with 14 slams in his time in the Majors. This was no easy task for Brown, who focused on his breathing and staying collected as he took the mound and prepared for the inning.
“You try to slow the heart rate down,” Brown said. “You’re going to be pretty pumped up. I think that’d be a situation where you could go in and overthrow a little bit. Every pitch means a lot.”
Brown worked to a 1-1 count against Tatis and then went with his bread-and-butter pitch -- a knuckle-curve that is the righty’s best weapon. The breaking ball dropped into the upper-third of the zone and Tatis made hard contact (102.8 mph exit velocity, per Statcast), but was just under the pitch.
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong reeled in Tatis’ drive, which resulted in a sacrifice fly that cut Chicago’s lead to one run.
Brown followed with a 1-0 sinker -- a pitch he developed over the offseason – that Machado chopped up the middle. Jackson Merrill was running on the pitch from first base, prompting second baseman Matt Shaw to hustle to cover the bag. That put Shaw in perfect position to glove the grounder, step on second and fire to first baseman Michael Busch to end the inning.
“Ben seemed to have just a really calm confidence today,” Shaw said. “He was ready and embraced the moment. He’s been unbelievable for us.”
Brown then retired the first two hitters of the ninth, striking out Xander Bogaerts and getting a groundout off the bat of Ty France before lefty Hoby Milner handled the game’s final out. The outing from Brown marked his 10th multi-inning appearance of the season for the Cubs, who have needed every one of those frames, too.
With a wave of injuries hitting the bullpen over the season’s first month, Brown’s 22 2/3 innings have been incredibly valuable to the staff. He has spun a 1.99 ERA with 22 strikeouts and seven walks, while allowing no earned runs in his last six games (12 innings). Brown currently leads the Majors with nine relief appearances consisting of at least two innings.
“He’s taken a step forward -- there’s no question about it,” Counsell said. “He’s delivered every time out. It’s been fun to watch. Fun to watch. And I think he’s gaining confidence. I think you see it, right?”
Brown’s teammates certainly see it.
“We’ve seen Ben grow up so much,” Cubs starter Jameson Taillon said. “He’s being used in multi-inning roles, which is a huge role already. But then the leverage he’s being put in, I think everyone trusts him and everyone’s pulling for him. He’s an easy guy to root for.”
Injuries impacted Brown’s rookie season in ‘24 and last year he dealt with struggles (5.92 ERA) that led to a move out of the rotation and into a sporadic relief role. The righty returned to Spring Training this year motivated to embrace whatever role the Cubs offered and impressed Counsell and the staff with the work put in over the winter.
That has all added up to Brown being trusted with crucial innings and -- like on Wednesday in San Diego -- the pitcher has answered the call so far.
“I’m super grateful and blessed to feel like myself again,” Brown said. “I like this role. I like to pitch. I really missed pitching a lot when I wasn’t pitching a lot last year. It means a lot to me to get the ball and be trusted. It’s just really exciting.”