CHICAGO -- Nico Hoerner did not stop running. As Reds second baseman Mike Moustakas gloved a grounder from Ian Happ in shallow right field, and then threw from a sitting position to first base, Hoerner motored his way home from second.

By the time the baseball reached Cincinnati catcher Tyler Stephenson, Hoerner was sliding in safely, putting the Cubs ahead in the fourth inning and on their way to an 8-5 win on a rainy Thursday night at Wrigley Field. The rookie was the trail runner on what developed into a game-changing, two-run infield single by Happ.

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“You guys ask me all the time what I love about Nico,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “His baseball IQ, the way he goes about his business and hustles and his work and his energy, it just is infectious. And that's a prime example right there.”

Hoerner gave all the credit to third-base coach Will Venable, who served as the rookie’s eyes on the crucial play.

“I didn't look where the ball was. I just looked at him,” Hoerner said. “I actually didn't know until later that it actually never left the infield, really.”

Hoerner was only a piece of the puzzle on Thursday night. Here are three takeaways on the Cubs' offense overall:

1) The Cubs needed that rally
The North Siders headed into the fourth inning with no runs in their previous 17 innings. And similar to Wednesday night, when Trevor Bauer used an early lead to his advantage, the Reds struck for three quick runs off Cubs righty Adbert Alzolay.

Reds righty Sonny Gray -- armed with a 2.38 ERA in seven career outings against the Cubs -- looked sharp for the first three innings. Then, Gray issued a leadoff walk to Willson Contreras in the fourth and later slipped into a bases-loaded, one-out jam against Hoerner. The Cubs’ rookie split the left-center gap with a two-run double.

“It felt like we haven't come back in a game in a while,” Ross said. “I can't really think about when the last time was. It was just one of those things that it was nice to see these guys continue to have good at-bats [against a] really good pitcher out there on the mound.”

Happ followed Hoerner’s hit with his two-run single, ending Gray’s evening. Chicago went on to score five runs in the fourth -- after totaling five runs in its previous 24 innings. From there, Cameron Maybin powered a two-run fifth with an RBI triple and Contreras capped off a four-hit night with an RBI double in the eighth.

2) Don't expect a lineup shakeup
Given the unique nature of this season, in which the entirety of the campaign can be considered a small-sample size, Ross has shown that he is not going to react much to uncharacteristic slash lines.

"I keep writing the same order and the same names," Ross said this week, "because I believe in them and their track record. There's times and thoughts where you want to do something different, but our success is going to be with those guys."

Ross was referring mainly to the core trio of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Báez. Bryant (.600 OPS) has started all 24 games in the Nos. 1-2 slots, Rizzo (.750 OPS) has been in the Nos. 2-3 spots in 43 of 44 games, and Báez (.592 OPS) has hit third or fourth in 43 of his 44 games.

In Thursday's win, Bryant and Rizzo each had two hits and a walk, while Báez went 0-for-5. By continuing to keep them in the heart of the lineup, the Cubs are counting on that group to find their rhythm over the final two-plus weeks before the postseason.

"If our big boys do get going,” Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said, “and perform up to their norms just for the rest of the year, that should put us in a really good place offensively."

3) Cubs have hit into tough luck
No one with the Cubs has come right out and cited this as an excuse for the offensive peaks and valleys, but the team's overall numbers do point to some hard luck as a contributing element.

"You could parse the numbers any way that you want," Epstein said. "And, if you look deep enough, you'll see, you can find evidence that we're hitting into some poor luck. But, I don't want to rely on that. I don't think that's sort of like a primary factor of what's going on."

As an example, the Cubs entered Thursday with a .226 batting average (27th in the Majors), .406 slugging percentage (19th) and .312 wOBA (19th). Each of those marks were below the corresponding expected rates (.248 BA, .433 SLG and .337 wOBA), per Statcast.

Chicago's lineup also headed into the night with a 40.3 percent hard-hit rate (via Statcast), which was the third-best mark in the NL. One issue is that the Cubs’ 45.9 percent ground-ball percentage was the third-highest rate in the Senior Circuit.

"It hasn't all come together yet," Epstein said. "There's certainly still time to define ourselves this season."