Cubs 14, Nationals 1: Sweep!

The Cubs just completed their best road trip in many years.

You did not expect an 8-1 Cubs road trip.

None of us did.

And yet, the Cubs, playing their best baseball of the year, did it at exactly the time they needed to, completing a three-game sweep of the Nationals with a convincing 14-1 win. It’s their sixth win in a row, a season high. They’ve also won nine of 10, 12 of their last 15 and are 20-8 since July 30, the best record in MLB in that span.

And it’s the second time they’ve scored 14 runs on this road trip.

Once again, as has been the case many times recently, the Cubs spotted their opposition a lead. After a scoreless first — in which all three Cubs struck out! — the Nats put a run on the board in the second.

Even then, the Cubs escaped a bigger Nationals inning with some sparkling defense. Two Nats singles, one an infield variety, sandwiched around a double, loaded the bases with nobody out.

Then this happened [VIDEO].

That was a terrific stop by Isaac Paredes. While a run did score, the Cubs completed the double play and got out of that jam with just that one run crossing the plate for Washington.

Then the Cubs put together yet another crooked-number inning, helped out by some sketchy Washington defense — that’s been the case for the Nats this entire series.

Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a single. One out later, Nats pitcher Mitchell Parker tried to pick off PCA, and the throw got away. PCA took advantage and went all the way to third, where he scored on this single by Ian Happ to tie the game 1-1 [VIDEO].

Dansby Swanson followed with a double, moving Happ to third. Seiya Suzuki walked to load the bases, but Cody Bellinger struck out.

Paredes, who made the great defensive play in the previous inning, then singled in both runners [VIDEO].

That three-run inning produced this fun fact:

(That was before the seven-run ninth, so make it 15 times.)

About Paredes, after a very slow start following his acquisition by the Cubs, he hit .281/.439/.433 (9-for-32) on this road trip with a home run, six RBI and seven walks. This article by Sahadev Sharma in The Athletic details Paredes’ struggles and how he’s come out of them. He’s going to be a really good player for this team.

Wicks, who had struggled a bit in the second inning, then set down the Nats easily in the third, fourth and fifth on low pitch counts. With this being his first start after an injury and rehab assignment, Craig Counsell wisely opted to lift him after five innings, having thrown 69 pitches (47 strikes). Here’s a summary of Wicks’ outing [VIDEO].

A bit more on Wicks’ outing from BCB’s JohnW53:

Jordan Wicks became only the fourth Cubs starter since 2000 to pitch at least 5 innings with no walks and no strikeouts.

The previous three:

Jon Lieber, 5 IP, April 14, 2002, at Pittsburgh
Kyle Hendricks, 5⅔ IP, Sept. 3, 2014, vs. Brewers
Alec Mills, 6 IP, July 29, 2021, vs. Reds

Lieber (one run, four hits) and Hendricks (two runs, nine hits) got wins. Mills (four runs, one unearned, nine hits) took the loss.

Meanwhile, the Cubs had extended the lead to 4-1 in the fourth partly because of some more poor Nats defense. Nico Hoerner hit a ball up the middle that Nats shortstop CJ Abrams couldn’t handle. It went for a single.

PCA then laid down a bunt [VIDEO].

The bunt was excellent — PCA probably beats it out for a hit — but Nats third baseman José Tena threw the ball away and Hoerner scored. PCA again got all the way to third on the bad throw.

Keegan Thompson relieved Wicks and threw a scoreless sixth, then the Cubs got to work on offense again in the top of the seventh.

With one out, Swanson singled and Suzuki followed with a double, with Dansby holding at third.

Bellinger singled in both runners to make it 6-1 [VIDEO].

A wild pitch advanced Bellinger to second, where he scored on this single by Paredes [VIDEO].

Thompson also threw a scoreless seventh, with a two-out walk. He’s been very effective since being recalled from Triple-A Iowa. The Cubs bullpen has been mostly excellent for the last couple of months.

Shawn Armstrong made his Cubs debut in the eighth. He issued a one-out walk, but got out of the inning scoreless with a double play started with a comebacker.

In the ninth, the Cubs put the game away with a huge inning in which 13 men batted. They had loaded the bases with a single by Happ, double by Suzuki and walk by Paredes.

Michael Busch drew a walk to force in the eighth run [VIDEO].

Nico followed with a two-run single to make it 10-1 [VIDEO].

Miguel Amaya got into the fun with a two-run double [VIDEO].

Mike Tauchman then batted for Happ and singled in the Cubs’ 13th run [VIDEO].

Yet another single, by Swanson, made it 14-1 [VIDEO].

Bellinger flew out with the bases loaded to end the fun.

Ethan Roberts was given the assignment of finishing up this blowout. That included seeing the MLB debut of Darren Baker, son of former Cubs (and Nats) manager Dusty Baker, who was in attendance. Baker singled with one out. After that, Roberts induced a double-play ball and the Cubs had their impressive win, and sweep.

I can’t say enough about how well this Cubs team played on this trip. So here’s more from BCB’s JohnW53:

The Cubs have scored at least five runs in six straight road games for only the 22nd time since 1901.

Their record is nine straight games, in 2008, during two road trips. They did it in eight straight in 1930, 1931 and 1941. The last of those was during a single trip.

They had seven-game streaks in 1996, 2000 (single trip) and 2016.Their previous streak of six games was in 2017, in two trips. Their six-game streak before that was June 12-16, 1969, on a single trip.

And more:

The Cubs have scored 99 runs in their last 10 games.

Since 1901, they have scored more in any 10 games just once: 104, May 28-June 7, 1930.

The Cubs’ previous 10-game high since 1930 was 94, Sept. 10-19 and Sept. 11-21, 1935.

And more!

The Cubs’ last 8-1 road trip was Sept. 10-19, 2010.

They won at Milwaukee, 4-0 and 1-0, before losing, 2-0. Then they swept series at St. Louis, 5-1, 7-2 and 7-3, and at Miami, 2-0, 5-3 and 13-3.

That was, as you probably remember, part of the good ending (24-13) to that season after Mike Quade replaced Lou Piniella as manager. It didn’t last, but that certainly was a fun trip. This one, 14 years later, has more meaning. We’ll have to wait for the results of the Dodgers/Diamondbacks (in progress) and Braves/Phillies (tonight’s featured ESPN game) to see if the Cubs can pick up any ground in the wild-card race... but there’s no doubt, the Cubs are right in that race and will hope to pick up more ground against the Pirates at Wrigley Field this week.

Jameson Taillon will throw the series opener against Pirates righthander Jared Jones on Monday. Game time is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.