The Cubs designated hitter’s first-inning blast held up for victory.
The Cubs opened the second half of the season on a high note — in fact, they did that in the very first inning Friday at Wrigley Field, on what was probably the nicest weather day we’ve had all summer.
After Colin Rea dispatched the Red Sox 1-2-3 in the top of the first, the Cubs started waiting out Lucas Giolito. Michael Busch and Kyle Tucker both walked on full counts.
Seiya Suzuki followed that with this ball just into the first row of the bleachers [VIDEO].
The Cubs didn’t have much offense after that, but Rea and five Cubs relievers held the Red Sox to just six hits and a run, and the Cubs ended Boston’s 10-game winning streak with a 4-1 triumph at Wrigley Field. Suzuki’s home run also gave him back the National League RBI lead with 80. He’s on pace for 134.
About that streak being broken, from BCB’s JohnW53:
The Red Sox were the 60th American League team to have a winning streak of at least 10 games since 1997, when interleague play began.
This is the 11th season in which the Cubs have played an AL team that had one of those streaks, but only the third in which they played one during its double-digit streak.
On June 27, 2010, they snapped an 11-game streak by the White Sox with an 8-6 victory on the South Side in the finale of a three-game series. The Sox streak had begun after a 1-0 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field on June 13.
On July 13, 2022, the Orioles extended a streak to 14 games by beating the Cubs at Wrigley Field, 7-1. The Orioles lost their next game two days later at Tampa.
Rea completed five innings allowing just one run on three hits, though he did issue three walks and had a lot of traffic on the bases. Here’s more on Rea’s outing [VIDEO].
He got some defensive help from Tucker [VIDEO].
That was kind of a mirror image of the sliding catch he made in left field in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
In the fifth, the first two Red Sox reached base on a single by Abraham Toro and a walk by Jarren Duran. Boston had scored once in the third off Rea and this was a key situation in the game.
Pete Crow-Armstrong turned that inning around with this slick double play [VIDEO].
Not sure where Toro was going on that play, it was a fairly routine catch for PCA, and an easy double play. Rea issued a walk after that, but got out of the inning with a force play.
The Cubs extended the lead to 4-1 in the sixth. Ian Happ doubled with one out and after Dansby Swanson walked, Nico Hoerner scored Happ with this single [VIDEO].
Caleb Thielbar had thrown a 1-2-3 sixth before that, and Ryan Pressly entered for the seventh. An odd play happened then. Ceddanne Rafaela hit a ball that appeared foul — in fact, the ball guy down the LF line grabbed it — but it was called fair by third-base umpire Scott Barry. Craig Counsell asked for the umpires to confer, and it was ruled foul. Rafaela followed with a single and was forced at second. If that’s a double, there’s no force on and a subsequent single by Jarren Duran might have scored a run. Pressly then induced another force play, and Drew Pomeranz was summoned. He got Roman Anthony to fly to right to end the inning.
Brad Keller, who had some rough outings just before the All-Star break, came in for the eighth and threw well, a 1-2-3 inning on only nine pitches.
And then it was Daniel Palencia time. The righthander has really embraced the closer role. He allowed a leadoff single, but then Rafaela hit into a double play.
Solid pitching and a good enough offensive output led to a good start to the second half for the Cubs, as they won their third in a row and improved their July record to 9-4. They are also now at a season high 19 games over .500. As I wrote here in May, the last time the Cubs were more than 19 games over .500 was the last day of the regular season in 2018, when they were 28 over at 95-67.
And so, from my point of view, at least for today…
The announced crowd of 41,011 was the second this year over 41,000, the first was June 19 vs. the Brewers. That, and one game last year vs. the Dodgers, are the only times the Cubs have announced over 41,000 tickets sold since 2019.
Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].
The Cubs’ lead over the Brewers in the NL Central increased to 1½ games with this win. The Brewers face the Dodgers in Los Angeles this evening at 9:10 p.m. CT.
The Cubs will go for four straight wins overall and a series win over the Red Sox Saturday evening at Wrigley Field. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Brayan Bello goes for Boston. Game time is 6:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Fox-TV (regional — coverage map).