Red Sox crush six homers in win over Cubs |
CHICAGO - Coming out of the 2023 All-Star Break, the Chicago Cubs (42-48) find themselves in an interesting predicament as the next 10 games could decide their fate this season. Despite being under .500 at this point, the Cubs are still alive in the division and have an excellent opportunity to pull a bit closer.
Expected to stand pat when it comes to being buyers or sellers, this 10-game homestand could solidify the Cub's fate as a strong homestand makes them buyers, and a lousy homestand makes them sellers. Looking to kick the part off with a bang, it was the Boston Red Sox (49-43) making the trip to Wrigley for another Interleague Series. When it comes to the Red Sox, they play in arguably the toughest division in baseball, which is why they are in fourth place. Looking to extend their winning streak to a season-long six games, it was the Red Sox playing long ball as they took the Cubs pitchers deep six times in the game to help pave the way for th3 8-3 victory. For as good as Kyle Hendricks has been throughout his career, the one nagging issue he has had is giving up the long ball. That happens when you throw around 87 MPH, as you need to hit your spots to succeed. For the most part, Hendricks has managed to get buy without allowing many homers, but that hasn't been the case the past two seasons. Friday saw Hendricks fall into some of his bad habits, as he lasted only 4 2/3 innings before getting pulled. Despite striking out five and walking none for the second straight start, Hendricks did allow five runs on eight hits while also allowing four homers. That was enough support for Brayan Bello, who is emerging as a legitimate top-of-the-rotation arm. Despite allowing eight hits in his six innings of work, Bello managed to get by with only three earned runs allowed and five strikeouts. Two of those three runs came on a pair of Cody Bellinger homers as he continues to be one of the hotter hitters on the planet right now. Both pitchers managed to toss perfect first innings, but once the second inning rolled around, it was the Red Sox starting to bring the thunder. First, it was a Rafael Devers solo shot to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead, as that was his first of two homers in the game. His homer was followed by an Adam Duvall homer later in the inning as the Red Sox opened an early 2-0 lead. The next inning saw the Red Sox continue to tee off on Hendricks, with Jurren Duran leading off the inning with a double before coming home to score on the Justin Turner Sacrifice fly to make things 3-0. That was the only run scored without a homer as Devers connected for his second homer in as many at-bats shortly after to put the Cubs in a 4-0 hole. With the Cubs offense struggling to get much of anything done through two innings, back-to-back doubles from Tucker Barnhardt and Mike Tauchman got the Cubs on the board as Nico Hoerner made it three straight hits with a single. No further damage came from the bottom of the third as the Cubs found a way to get on the board. Leading off the top of the fourth was Triston Casas as he connected for the fourth and final homer off of Hendricks to help put the Red Sox comfortably in front 5-1. Hendricks would get through the rest of the fourth without further damage before coming out in the fifth. Looking to stay hot, it was Bellinger who put the team on his back in this one as he connected for not one but two solo shots to pull the Cubs within 5-3. The first came in the bottom of the fourth before adding his second homer in his next at-bat to pull the Cubs to within 5-3 after six. Unfortunately, that was it for the offense in this one, as the Cubs put themselves in too big of a hole to climb out of. Tasked with keeping things close was the Cubs pen as Mark Leiter Jr was on to pitch the seventh. One of the more consistent relievers the Cubs have had this season, Leiter Jr ran into some early inning trouble as Masataka Yoshida picked up a one-out single before Captain Red Beard Justin Turner took Leiter Jr deep for the Red Sox's fifth homer and extended the lead to 7-3. They were not quite done as Yu Chang led the top of the ninth off with a long homer off of Javier Assad to push the Red Sox lead to 8-3. Duran and Yoshida followed that homer up with a pair of singles, but no further damage came from that inning. Down by five and with only three outs to work with, the Cubs would need a miracle to come back, as things were not looking good. Don't tell that to Christopher Morel, who picked up a one-out single for his third hit of the game. Morel would eventually steal second before advancing to third on that throwing error as the Cubs offense was in business. That error was followed by a pair of walks from Jared Young and Barnhardt as the Cubs had the bases loaded with two outs. That prompted Alex Cora to return to his pen, where Kenley Jansen came in to replace Taylor Scott and then made quick work of Tauchman as Jansen struck him out to end the game and gave the Red Sox an 8-3 win. Morel led offensively with three hits, while Bellinger and Barnhardt added two. Tauchman and Hoerner added the other two hits as the Cubs had nine hits as a team. These teams will meet again Saturday afternoon when the Red Sox send Big Maple James Paxton to the mound against Marcus Stroman. The first pitch is set for 1:20.
