Cubs fans stopped in the middle of Wrigley Field walkways to do the twist. “Sweet Home Chicago” blared. For a night, or at least an hour or two, the offensive lull of the last couple weeks were forgotten.
The Cubs avoided a sweep with a 10-4 win against the Cardinals on Wednesday. It served as a silver lining in a series loss to the last-place team in the National League Central.
“Up and down the lineup, it felt like all the things we were waiting to happen offensively came through,” manager David Ross said after the game.
The Cubs have lost three of their past four series, against teams that are at or below .500. But the series loss to the division-rival Cardinals was the biggest missed opportunity.
The new, more balanced schedule has every team playing each other in at least one series, and it shaved in-division games from 19 against each opponent to 13.
“[Before,] when it came to making up ground or whatever, you knew you had head-to-head contests,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “And you have a lot fewer of those now, and I do think it matters.”
The Cubs were fortunate enough to meet the Cardinals, the preseason division favorites, as they were on a downward spiral. But in the first two games of the series, themes from the Cubs’ rough stretch prevailed.
“We just haven’t been able to get the big hit,” Hoyer said before the game Wednesday. “And I think the biggest frustration of all of it is whenever you’re playing all those close games, it means someone gave up a run at some point, but ultimately, our pitching has been fantastic. Our run prevention has been fantastic.”
In the first two weeks of the season, the Cubs led MLB in batting average with runners in scoring position (.365). The last two weeks, they’ve been second-worst (.182) in the same category, topping only the Twins (.178), who they play this weekend.
“I think everyone down there knows it is going to turn, but that doesn’t mean there’s not frustration about when it’s going to,” Hoyer said. “Probably the best way to say it is that I do take a lot of comfort in the underlying stuff. But ultimately, we’ve got to start scoring runs at the right times, and we’ve got to start winning games.”
Wednesday was a start.
It began with an RBI double from Seiya Suzuki and a two-run homer from Patrick Wisdom in the third inning. And then, the Cubs just kept piling on.
Yan Gomes, in his first game back from the seven-day concussion injured list, contributed a two-run homer of his own. Dansby Swanson hit two doubles and drove in two runs. Christopher Morel hit an RBI double and an RBI single in back-to-back innings.
“To end the homestand with a win like that, especially against the Cards, I think it’s big for us and our momentum and our morale,” Wisdom said. “Even though we have a great clubhouse in there, just nice to go out there on the field and score a bunch of runs.”
The Cubs put up runs in the double digits for the first time since April 21 against the Dodgers. And at least for a night, they looked like the team that started the season on a hot streak.