Cubs top Nationals to win fifth straight |
WASHINGTON—About two months ago, the Chicago Cubs (70-66) went through a 22-39 stretch, and 70 wins seemed like a real possibility. That was then, and this is now as the Cubs continued to play inspired baseball and have now won five consecutive games, eight of their last nine, and 13 of their last 16.
That alone has not only brought them back above .500 but has kept them in the playoff race much longer than people expected as they continue to battle for the final wild-card spot. Facing the Washington Nationals (61-75) at Nationals Park on Saturday, the Cubs pushed their winning streak to five games as a four-run fifth inning led them to a 5-3 win. Javier Assad made the start for the Cubs, and although he did struggle at times, he did what he always does, which is to limit the damage. Assad walked two and struck out four across his six innings and was charged with three earned runs as he improved to 7-4 on the season with a 3.21 ERA. Quality. 🤌 pic.twitter.com/AxoYM5jsd9 Opposing Assad is someone Cubs fans are very familiar with as the rookie left hander DJ Herz was on the mound. Herz was once one of the best Cubs in their entire system. He earned the Organizational Pitcher of the Year award in 2022 before getting traded last season as part of the Jeimer Candelario deal. There are some trades where you can look back and say they were someone who got away, and Herz is turning into one of those pitchers. He ranks in the top 10 in strikeout percentage, which is impressive in itself. Herz was about as locked in as you can be early as he held the Cubs without a hit through four innings and made them look silly in the process. Then came the fifth when Herz started to unravel as the Cubs pushed home four runs in that inning to take the lead while also chasing him from the game. Still, he finished his outing with two walks and five strikeouts, as his high strikeout rate continues to be part of his game. Although the Cubs have been red-hot, especially offensively, as of late, they haven't looked good in the early innings of this series, which is a bit of a concern. Playing from behind isn't a good thing, and at some point, it will come back to bite you. Fortunately, Chicago has been able to get away with playing from behind early in this series, as an RBI single off the bat of Joey Gallo in the second gave the Nationals a 1-0 lead. With the Cubs struggling to get anything going offensively through four innings, the only question was how long Herz would last on the mound as the Andres Chaparro homer to lead off the bottom of the fourth doubled the National's lead and gave them a 2-0 cushion. That is when Assad bared down and started to pitch the way he has most of the season. Pair that with some strong defense, including an outfield assist from Pete Crow-Armstrong and another caught stealing from Christian Bethancourt, and the Cubs were able to minimize the damage to keep things close. After being held without a hit through four innings, the Cubs offense started to come to life in the fifth as the Isaac Paredes single led things off and gave the Cubs a baserunner. It's incredible how fast one hit can rattle a pitcher as a Michael Busch walk, and Nico Hoerner single followed that single as the Cubs loaded the bases with no outs. Hoping to at the very least push home one run in that inning, Crow-Armstrong delivered as his sacrifice fly put the Cubs on the board and made this a 2-1 game. That was followed by another Bethancourt single, which appeared to load the bases again, only to have Jacob Young overrun the ball in center, leading to the second run of the inning. With things tied 2-2, Ian Happ kept the line moving as he hit one off of Herz for an RBI groundout, which put the Cubs in front for good 3-2. Dansby Swanson capped off their four-run fifth inning, which will go down as the game-winning hit, and his RBI double extended the Cubs lead to 4-2. Swanson has been one of the Cubs best hitters the past two weeks as he is looking to salvage what has been a nightmare of a season. Trailing for the first time in the game, Young looked to make up for his error and led the bottom of the fifth off with a long double off the wall to set the Nationals offense up again. While Young did manage to score, it came off a wild pitch as Washington pulled within 4-3. That was not only the final run that Assad would allow, but it was the game's final run for the Nationals as the Cubs bullpen responded after a rough showing on Friday. Chicago closed out the scoring in the top of the seventh, and it was the bottom of the order doing the work again. First, Hoerner started things off with another single before stealing his 27th base to advance to second. Two batters later saw Bethancourt bounce out to the catcher, and after being tagged out at home, Hoerner appeared to be dead at second base for what was an inning-ending double play. Instead, Drew Millas air mailed second resulting in the ball landing in center field as Hoerner raced around third to cross home and pushed the Cubs lead to 5-3. Chicago had a chance to tack on another run late in the game off a Busch single, but Seiya Suzuki was gunned down at the plate. That play didn't matter in the end, as the combination of Tyson Miller, Jorge Lopez, and Porter Hodge continued their strong work to strike out five across three scoreless frames and scattered two hits. Two strikeouts came from Hodge in the ninth as he lowered his ERA to 1.80 and picked up his third save on the season. The @Cubs finish August going 18-8 🔥 pic.twitter.com/O1Vbkr4C0o Chicago had seven hits in the game, with Hoerner leading the way with two. The Cubs will look to pick up their second consecutive sweep on Sunday as Jameson Taillon will face Mitchell Parker. Text your friends. That's FIVE in a row! "Christian just keeps coming up with big hits."
Hoerner: 2 for 4, 2 R, SB
Busch: 1 for 3, R, BB, H
Paredes: 1 for 2, BB, R pic.twitter.com/2u1MU8aYKl
Craig Counsell on Christian Bethancourt. pic.twitter.com/zCW6O18qdD
