Cubs win series against Reds, scored 46 runs in total

David Banks - USA Today Sports

by Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Fri Aug 04 07:27:25 GMT-04:00 2023

CHICAGO - There is a reason why people say the baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint. This Chicago Cubs (56-53) is a microcosm of that as they continue to show an unbelievable fight. After getting off to a hot start in April, things went south for Northsiders in a hurry to the point where they were 10 games under .500 and sitting just above the St. Louis Cardinals for last place.

Once July started, notably that final Series before the all-star break, something kicked in for this team as they became the hottest team in baseball. Looking to pick up another series win at Wrigley Field on Thursday, the Cubs had a chance to knock off the Cincinnati Reds (59-52) for the third straight game and a chance to pull within 2.5 games of first.

After pounding out 36 runs across their last two games, no one knew what to expect from the Cubs, but you had to think their offense would cool off eventually. Led by another good start from Jameson Taillon, the Cubs did just enough offensively to get the job done as they took down the Reds 5-3 for their 12th win in their last 15 games.

Since his start at Yankee Stadium, Taillon has been a different pitcher as he is starting to look like the man who won 14 games a season ago. Taillon wasn't as sharp as he had been, but he still managed to give the Cubs five innings while holding the Reds to two runs, as he did a great job limiting the damage. From there, it was all about the Cubs and their bullpen as Mark Leiter Jr, Julian Merryweather, and Adbert Alzolay allowed one run the rest of the way while striking out nine to give the Cubs another win.

With the Reds pitching taking a beating the past two nights, the hope was for Luke Weaver to give them some length they desperately needed. Despite Weaver doing a decent enough job to keep things close, He saw his pitch count top 80 in the fourth inning as he was removed after just 3 1/3. Weaver allowed four runs in his outing while walking four and striking out five in what was a struggle for him from the start.

Despite the lopsided scores, the Reds did a great job scoring first all Series as they held the lead in two of the first three games. Elly De La Cruz made that three of the four games in that Series with the Reds striking first as he led things off with a leadoff shot against Taillon to put the Reds up 1-0. At that time, you had that silicious feeling that this would be a long night for Taillon, but he managed to work around several jams throughout the game to keep the Cubs in it.

Looking to pick up where they left off in the first, Nico Hoerner started things for the Cubs as his one-out double gave them a much-needed baserunner. Hoerner would come around to score on the Ian Happ double a few pitches later, and just like that, it was a 1-1 game. You could make the case that the turning point in this game was the top of the second, as the Reds had Taillon on the ropes.

A one-out single from Christian Encarnacion-Strand was followed by the Will Benson double as the Reds had a pair of runners in scoring position. De La Cruz worked a walk two batters later to load the bases, but were unable to come away with any more runs. That was the momentum shift the Cubs needed, as was the bottom of the third when their offense continued to capitalize on the Red's miscues.

Despite retiring the first two hitters he faced in the bottom of the third, the Cubs managed to keep the inning alive as Hoerner reached first on a wild pitch strike three. Happ followed that up with a walk before the Cody Bellinger single put the Cubs in front for good, 2-1. The Cubs patient at-bats continued to pay off, with Dansby Swanson taking a walk to load the bases, followed by two more walks from Christopher Morel and Jeimer Candelario as the Cubs extended their lead to 4-1.

Already with a high pitch count, Taillon proceeded to begin the third with a pair of singles to lead things off before a huge double play ball had him on the verge of getting out of it. A run did score on the double play to make things 4-2, but that would be all the Reds would get off of him as he continued to pitch like the man they expected him to be.

With one momentum-changing play in the second, the Reds tried to return the favor in the fourth as Nick Madrigal led things off with a single before Weaver was removed from the game. That set the stage for Mike Tauchman, who lined one off the left-field wall for a double. With Madrigal running, Willie Harris got aggressive and sent him home, only to watch De La Cruz gun him down by 20 feet to prevent another run. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, but the Cubs knew that play could come back to haunt them.

Holding their 4-2 lead in the sixth, Spencer Steer led things off with a double, which was the end of the road for Taillon. Leiter Jr took over from there and, despite hitting a batter, would give David Ross 1 2/3 impressive innings as he came away with four strikeouts. Julian Merryweather took over from there and did more of the same as he struck out three in his inning of work.

Merryweather also allowed the lone run by the Cubs pen as a Steer homer in the top half of the eight pulled the Reds within 4-3 and started to give the home fans an eery feeling. Leave it to the offense to change that as Swanson led the bottom of the eighth off with a ground-rule double before advancing to third on the Candelario single. Needing a big hit to pick up a run, Yan Gomes delivered in a different way as he picked up a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 5-3 and set things up for Adbert Alzolay in the ninth.

Pitching in his first game in nearly a week, Alzolay was as good as ever as he punched out three of the four batters he faced to lock down his 13th save in 14 tries as the Cubs finished off the Reds 5-3 and took three of four in the Series. The win moves them within 2.5 games of the first-place Brewers and two games behind the Reds, as the Cubs are now 4-5 against Cincinnati.

If you thought this Series was massive, this weekend would be even bigger as the Cubs welcome the best team in baseball, the Atlanta Braves, for a three-game set this weekend. Kyle Hendricks gets the ball on Friday to open things up as he will face Max Fried coming off the IL.