A lot of fans were left wondering why Mike Tauchman was still on the team following the trade deadline, but the Bradley legend might have just saved the Cubs season in what truly was their most improbable win of 2024.
The Cubs entered the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday night trailing the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 at Wrigley Field. Cardinals closer Helsley was looking to secure his 34th save of the season and pretty much kill any last hope the Cubs had to get back into the Wild Card mix. Here’s the giant mountain the Cubs were climbing with their two-run deficit in the ninth: Cubs had lost 53 straight games when trailing by 2+ runs in the ninth inning.
Well, Mike Tauchman put an end to that with a two-out, walk-off hit off the bench.
But let’s rewind to earlier in the inning.
Cody Bellinger is back from the injured list and if the Cubs have any shot of making the postseason, then they need him to hit like a star the rest of the season. Well, so far so good this week as Bellinger has gone 7-for-13 at the plate with two home runs, including an opposite-field shot against Helsley.
Beautiful. Remember when the Cubs got on their hot run last summer? Well, Bellinger was a big part of that success and was carrying the offense. Need that again and hopefully there’s more help around in September.
Speaking of, how about Nico Hoerner jumping on the first pitch he saw with two outs. He singled to center field on a 99.9mph fastball. Hoerner also stole second base to get into scoring position and then Dansby Swanson delivered his biggest hit of the year.
A great job of base running from both Hoerner and Swanson. Sure, that seemed like a for-sure run, but Hoerner ran full speed until he touched home plate because Swanson was busting it out of the box with one thought in mind, getting to scoring position himself.
Swanson made sure to point out Hoerner’s base running in the postgame.
Everyone knows Swanson is having a brutal season at the plate, but there are positive signs that he’s turning a corner recently. He started to hit the ball harder this last week against the Cincinnati Reds and in his last 10 games the Cubs shortstop is 12-for-35 at the plate.
And how about Craig Counsell’s decision to pinch-hit for Pete Crow-Armstrong. He went for the win right there in the ninth because as we know with the extra-inning rules, PCA would have started the 10th at second base, a huge advantage for the Cubs if he couldn’t come through with a hit. Counsell decided not to play it safe and instead had Tauchman hit and it paid off.
That brings us to how Thursday’s 5-4 victory was the most improbable win of the season. The Bellinger home run, Swanson game-tying double and Tauchman’s walk-off hit were all two-strike RBI extra-base hits. That has not happened in the ninth inning since at least 1988.
Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley had not allowed a single two-strike RBI extra base hit all season.
Just one of those things in baseball that has no other explanation. The Cubs simply have Helsley’s number.
Amazing.
