Even more improbable than the Cubs’ 7-run comeback win today …
THEY ACTUALLY PULLED OFF A SWEEP!!!
Wooooooooooo. Unbelievable game.
The Cubs trailed 10-3 in the middle innings when the comeback began. Christian Bethancourt decided to put the Cubs on his back, pairing with a huge day from Pete Crow-Armstrong to play the part of Miguel Amaya. The back-up catcher wound up driving in HALF of the Cubs’ 14 runs, including the tying and leading runs in the 9th.
Theꦏ Cubs added insurance from there. What started out as a Pirates blowout became a comfortable 9th inning lead for🐽 the Cubs.
Back to the beginning for a moment. If you score three runs off of Paul Skenes and bounce him after the fifth inning, you should be feeling pretty darn good about yourself. So credit to the Cubs’ hitters on that, even setting the comeback aside.
Unfortunately, there are two sides to the game, and scoring three on Skenes can’t ensure a win on its own. That is to say, on the other side, Kyle Hendricks laid an absolute egg. The Pirates tacked on from there against Ethan Roberts and Drew Smyly, and it started to look like their day to be at the head of a blowout. (Ian Happ made his first error of the year not but a literal DAY after I mentioned that he hadn’t made an error all season. Naturally. That’s where the Pirates scoring stopped, though, and the Cubs came back to win, so no harm no foul?)
Credit to Tyson Miller, Daniel ꦛPalencia (hey, it was scoreless at least), and Porter ಞHodge for stopping the Pirates scoring there, and giving the offense a chance to come back in dramatic fashion.
Multi-hit days for Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki, and a FOUR-hit day for Pete Crow-Armstrong. He even got intentionally walked in the 9th inning because he’s so good now.
That’s actually what set up the final bit of Christian Bethancourt’s dramatic day, as he singled to give the Cubs the lead. Earlier, he hit an RBI groundout, a two-run homer, and a two-run double. Guy did it all. He is the , obviously. The Christian Bethancourt Game.
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