Injuries, injuries, injuries.
They seem to dominate the conversation around the Cubs these days, and for good reason. Although they’re a part of any baseball season, the Cubs have been particularly bombarded with them, especially on the pitching side, with an entire rotation and late-inning mix of relievers all on the injured list simultaneously.
But coming just as rapidly as the injuries? More and more Cubs wins.
The latest was a 3-2 walk-off victory Monday night — the Cubs’ 10th walk-off of the season — to start a three-game series with the Padres at Wrigley Field.
Although they’ve put six players on the IL in the last six days and are staring at some long layoffs for key contributors, they also have won 13 of their last 17 games.
A day after finishing a 6-1 road trip, which included taking two of three from the division-leading Brewers, the Cubs bested Mason Miller, the Padres’ flame-throwing closer and one of the best ninth-inning men around.
After back-to-back base hits in the bottom of the ninth off Miller’s bullpen-mate Jason Adam, who had a 2.30 ERA coming in, the Cubs got two singles in three batters against Miller, who had only given up 14 hits all season. Slugger Seiya Suzuki then lifted a fly ball to the ivy that was almost corralled for a game-saving catch. Instead, the ball bounced away, and the Cubs got to celebrate.
It was Suzuki’s second big moment against one of the game’s premier fireballers in recent days. He homered off Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski on Friday.
“To be honest,” Suzuki joked through an interpreter, “I’m kind of surprised myself that the ball is hitting the bat.”
The task has seemed tall as the injuries have piled up. Can these Cubs — not too far removed from an early-summer stumble that dropped them from the top of the division to around .500 — stay afloat long enough to get healthy and chase their championship goal?
They have stood up to the challenge right away, getting strong and in some cases out-of-nowhere bullpen performances and seeing their lineup come to life beyond center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who was on base four times Monday and scored the winning run as his ridiculous June continued.
Suzuki is the notable hot hitter of late. After four hits, two homers, six RBI and a couple of runs scored over three days in Milwaukee, he had two hits Monday, including a double, with an RBI and a run scored.
“He’s one of the top hitters in MLB,” starting pitcher Shota Imanaga said through an interpreter. “The hits, the homers, especially in the situations where the team needs it and he delivers, that’s not really surprising to me just because I see all the work he puts in behind the scenes. He’s a hard worker, and that’s just the results coming out. He’s a fantastic player.”
The Cubs have a few of those, enough to make a serious effort at weathering the current storm. So far, so good.
“It shows the teamwork,” Suzuki said. “In those situations, the next guy comes up, and he delivers. It shows everybody on this team we can compete.”
