CHICAGO -- The Cubs’ winning streak at Wrigley Field started with a walk-off and it continued with another one on Tuesday night.
In the 10th inning, Michael Busch sent a pitch from Reds reliever Sam Moll up the middle, where it eluded the grasp of shortstop Elly De La Cruz and set off the party. Dansby Swanson scored from second as Chicago’s players poured out of the dugout to celebrate a 3-2 comeback win over Cincinnati.
The win extended the Cubs’ winning streak to seven games overall and ran the ballclub’s run at Wrigley Field to 13 consecutive games. That is the longest such run at home since a 14-game streak in 2008. The Cubs’ record streak at the Friendly Confines is an 18-game stretch in 1935, with the franchise record being 21 in 1880 at Lakefront Park, per team historian Ed Hartig.
The Cubs have not lost at home since April 11 and have had five walk-offs as part of the streak. Carson Kelly’s walk-off single to beat the Pirates on April 12 got this 13-game run rolling. Busch’s walk-off hit came one night after Michael Conforto ran the streak to a dozen with a game-winning, pinch-hit blast.
The ninth began with Reds closer Emilio Pagán on the hill, but the righty tumbled to the grass on the left side of the mound after one pitch to Nico Hoerner. He grabbed at the back of his left leg and was carted off the field after several minutes. Jose Franco took over on the hill and dodged some traffic to send the game to extras.
Cubs righty Jameson Taillon worked into the sixth inning in a solid performance, but flinched twice against the Reds' offense. In the first inning, JJ Bleday jumped on a 2-1 changeup and sent it out to right for a solo home run. Nathaniel Lowe later ended Taillon’s evening with a solo shot of his own with two outs in the sixth.
Those two homers were the only damage done against Taillon in his 5 2/3 innings, in which he had five strikeouts and one walk.
The North Siders entered the night leading the Majors in both OPS (.830) and weighted runs created plus (136) against left-handed pitching, but struggled to solve Reds southpaw Andrew Abbott. The lefty blanked Chicago’s lineup – a group ranked third in MLB in runs scored (190) going into the game – over 5 2/3 frames.
Reds reliever Connor Phillips escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, but then was on the hook for the Cubs’ first breakthrough in the seventh. After Pete Crow-Armstrong (single and stolen base) and Hoerner (walk) reached, Alex Bregman got Chicago on the board with an RBI single to left field.
In the eighth, Busch evened things up, launching a first-pitch fastball from Cincinnati’s Tony Santillan deep to right for a game-tying, solo home run. That set the stage for the second walk-off win in a row for the Cubs, who improved to 16-5 at home for the first time to open a season since 1984.