ARLINGTON – During the Cubs’ pregame pitchers’ meeting on Friday afternoon, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy held up a card detailing the reliever usage over the past several days. Coming off a drama-filled, tightly contested series with the Reds, and within a stretch of 23 games in 24 days, the group has been pushed to the max.
“It’s lit up red,” Hottovy said of the card. “And I said to them, ‘I’ve never been more proud of a group.’”
Baseball players love to lean on the “next man up” adage, but the Cubs’ staff has truly embodied the saying amid all this winning. The 7-1 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field offered yet another example from the North Siders, who rattled off their 10th consecutive win after another scramble to solve the day’s pitching puzzle.
In the wake of veteran lefty Matthew Boyd being out six weeks following left knee surgery – a fluke injury that occurred while playing with his kids at home – the Cubs asked righty Ben Brown to move out of the bullpen and into a starting role. Brown answered the call with four no-hit innings to set the tone for Chicago’s 20th win in the past 23 games.
Within that 23-game span, the Cubs have actually pieced together a pair of 10-game winning streaks.
“That’s a crazy sentence on May 8, right?” Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “That’s obviously incredible. It’s just a result of a lot of things -- consistency of people stepping up in roles maybe they weren’t expecting. Ben Brown was incredible.”
This marks the first time since 1935 that the ballclub has had at least two 10-game runs in the same season. Per team historian Ed Hartig, that feat has only been done seven times in club history (also in 1910, 1906, 1886, 1885 and 1880).
Per the Elias Sports Bureau, these Cubs are the fifth team in MLB history with multiple distinct winning streaks of at least 10 games before their 40th decision of a season. The 1955 Dodgers, 1941 Cardinals, 1889 St. Louis Browns and 1880 Chicago White Stockings (Cubs) also achieved the feat.
And per Elias, the Cubs are also just the sixth team with a gap of three or fewer games between a pair of winning streaks of at least 10 games. That rare feat was also pulled off by the 1906 Cubs (one game, twice), 1897 Orioles (one), 1880 White Stockings (two), 1978 Pirates (two), and 1955 Dodgers (three).
“Two double-digit winning streaks in a season,” Brown said. “That sounds pretty wild to me.”
“I just heard that a Cubs team hasn’t done it for 90 years,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That means you’re doing something that’s pretty rare. And I think we realize that. But, if you break it into small things, it’s just, ‘Come and play a good game today.’ And we played a really good game today – really well-rounded, well-pitched.”
Brown has excelled as a multi-inning arm in the relief corps, logging at least two innings in 10 of his 12 appearances and earning more trust along the way. With Boyd out, the Cubs plan on being smart about building Brown’s workload back up to ease him back into a starter’s routine. He certainly helped the cause with Friday’s performance, which lowered his ERA to 1.82 on the year.
Within his four innings of work, Brown’s only blemish was a two-out walk to Joc Pederson in the second inning. Beyond that, the righty struck out three and generated six outs via grounders. That allowed Brown to get through his four innings in 46 pitches, which in turn gave Chicago’s deep lineup time to get to work.
“We couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Counsell said. “He was dialed in. He was sharp. He was pounding the strike zone. He was getting quick outs. To get him through four innings was, I think, unexpected, to say the least.”
Ian Happ extended his career-best on-base streak to 29 games with an RBI single in the first inning against Rangers righty Kumar Rocker. In the fourth, Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki launched a two-run homer off Rocker for his seventh shot of the season, padding the lead. The North Siders blew things open with four runs off Cal Quantrill between the sixth and seventh -- capped by a three-run double by Michael Busch.
After Brown, Counsell then used three more relievers, with righty Javier Assad covering 3 2/3 shutout innings to help offer some rest for the taxed group. Ethan Roberts (activated from the 15-day IL prior to the game) worked the ninth to become the 21st pitcher used by the Cubs across the past 23 games.
“There’s so many different layers to the situation,” Brown said. “Our pitching staff is just better because our defense is so good. Our pitching staff can breathe a little bit because our offense is playing so well. Our pitching staff is incredibly deep because our coaches are so solid. There’s so many causes and effects.”
And now, so many wins.
“It's cool how many different places it’s come from on our roster,” Hoerner said. “Every part of the roster has been huge for big moments in parts of these streaks. And that’s what it takes over a whole season and beyond.”