3 Pressing Thoughts After the Cubs' Extra-Inning Victory

After evening the series and keeping the hope of a fifth-straight series victory alive, here are three pressing thoughts from Tuesday's contest. 

1. Nico Hoerner is elite

Second baseman Nico Hoerner saved the day with an RBI triple in the 10th inning, which scored the go-ahead run and broke the 1-1 stalemate. 

Aside from an RBI bunt from Pete Crow-Armstron, Hoerner's three-bagger was the only clutch hit of the game for the struggling Cubs' offense. There were several innings where Chicago was one big hit away from breaking the game open, but they left 14 runners on base and went 1-14 with runners in scoring position. 

With the triple, Hoerner has improved his batting average to a stellar .328 and .529 with runners in scoring position. With Justin Turner (.456 OPS) and Ian Happ (.528 OPS) struggling mightily at the plate and Seiya Suzuki day-to-day with a wrist injury, Manager Craig Counsell might want to think about moving Hoerner up in the lineup. 

2. Shota Imanaga is still brilliant

With Justin Steele on the shelf for the remainder of 2025, Shota Imanaga is the undisputed ace of the Cubs' pitching staff. And he continued to prove why in Tuesday's contest, going five innings with zero earned runs and seven strikeouts. Although he looked shaky at times and allowed plenty of traffic on the basepaths, partially because of a trio of walks, the Japanese southpaw was able to pitch out of the jams and keep the game close. 

The game was scoreless heading into the fifth inning, and Imanaga looked like he could've gone one more inning had it not been for a pair of frustrating misplays by the Cubs' defense. This led to the Padres scoring their first run of the game via a solo shot from third baseman Manny Machado. 

3. The Cubs' sloppy fifth inning almost blew it

The home run was not charged to Imanaga because the inning should have ended twice over, thanks to a pair of errors. With two outs in the fifth, Imanaga induced a pop fly down the right field foul line that was tracked down but dropped by Kyle Tucker. 

Imanaga got Machado to pop up again, this time directly in front of home plate. Third baseman Gage Workman, who got the start at the hot corner after rookie Matt Shaw was optioned to Triple-A, came crashing in but also dropped the ball. 

Had either ball been caught, Imanaga would have escaped the inning with no damage and likely would have returned to at least start the sixth inning. The Cubs could have avoided going into extra innings with a catch since the Padres failed to score after Machado's home run. 

Matthew Boyd and Nick Pivetta will toe the rubber in game 3 on Wednesday, which starts at 3:10 CT.