The Chicago Cubs have developed a knack for pouring on runs in an inning.
While they didn’t sufficiently add as much quick-strike power in the offseason as the organization would have liked, it hasn’t hindered the ability to produce big innings. Entering Thursday’s series opener in St. Louis, the Cubs scored four or more runs in an inning 31 times this season, which ranks fourth in the majors, trailing only the Texas Rangers (38), Atlanta Braves (33) and Los Angeles Dodgers (33).
A six-run fifth inning erased a five-run deficit in the Cubs’ 10-7 road victory Wednesday against the White Sox for their fifth straight win.
“Definitely as we’ve moved into the season and lately, we’re not helping the pitcher,” Ian Happ told the Tribune on Thursday. “Guys struggling with command, we’ve done a really good job of deep in counts not being afraid to work a walk in those spots, kind of building on each other’s at-bats instead of the double plays early in the year. And as the seasons gone on, we’ve done really good at, if a pitcher is trying to give us some runs, we’ll have it.”
The Cubs didn’t score four runs or more in an inning Thursday, but they had 14 hits in a 10-3 victory against the Cardinals for their sixth straight win and eighth in nine games. At 51-51, they are .500 for the first time since May 12.
Happ credited the Cubs’ hitting group — hitting coach Dustin Kelly and assistant hitting coaches Johnny Washington, Juan Cabreja and Jim Adduci — for the way they prepare them for what pitchers they’ll be facing and a game plan that is tailored to each hitter’s strengths and approach.
“It‘s just being super disciplined to your plan,” Happ said. “A single that extends a rally and keeps putting pressure on the guy is super impactful. And if you run into it, you run into it, but getting away from your plan to try to do something doesn’t often work in this league.”
Sticking to an approach and not trying to do too much in big moments can be easier said than done. The Cubs lineup features a largely veteran group, though, that understands its strengths and weaknesses without pressing or looking to be the hero in high-leverage spots.
“It’s so cliché to say hitting is contagious, but it really is in the sense that our guys gain confidence from the other guys’ at-bats, especially when we’re executing a team plan,” Kelly told the Tribune. “And we’ve done a really good job of executing our team plan. We have nine individual hitters that are up there trying to do their specific thing, but we come up with some little things of how we’re going to attack this guy or how we’re going to beat them.
“Even if the at-bat doesn’t end in the outcome that we want, if we still execute our plan, we know that’s going to work over the long haul and our guys are really bought into it.”
Wednesday’s fifth-inning rally was a microcosm of how the Cubs can work pitchers and put collective pressure on their opponent. They didn’t record an extra-base hit, instead capitalizing three singles, two hit batters, a wild pitch and back-to-back walks with the bases loaded by Mike Tauchman and Nico Hoerner to tie the game and then take the lead.
Cubs hitters love to reference a “pass the baton” mentality that they believe is contributing to an offense that never believes it’s out of a game.
“There’s so much fight in this team,” Tauchman told the Tribune. “We’ve had so many big innings now it’s like, if we can just get a little something going, just that belief — we have guys that put together really strong at-bats and to be able to not exactly play the brand of baseball we want early to come back and have that ending. And it just speaks to the character of the guys and the belief that we have on the bench.”
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