Cubs 7, Reds 3: A fine helping of meatloaf

After dropping the first game of this series to the Reds and looking kind of flat doing it, the Cubs won Saturday behind stellar pitching, and then took the offensive tack on Sunday, with a varied attack that included 10 hits, a couple of stolen bases and a home run.

All of that plus another solid outing from Jameson Taillon led to a 7-3 win over the Reds and another series win. And the Cubs are doing exactly what I’d hoped they would do over this 21-game stretch against teams with below-.500 records. They’re 18 games into that 21-game span and are 14-4, an excellent result.

The Cubs had their chances in the first two innings, but left runners on base both times. One of those runners was Kyle Tucker, who was caught trying to steal after being hit by a pitch.

Unfortunately, that’s apparently where he jammed his right ring finger, as seen here:

Fortunately, news after the game is positive about Tucker’s finger:

So no broken bones, and hopefully with the off day and not having to play until Tuesday evening, Tucker won’t miss much, if any, time. Here’s Tucker on the injury:

Meanwhile, Taillon was breezing through the Reds over the first couple of innings, with just a two-out single in the first as the only Cincinnati baserunner through three.

That’s when the Cubs offense got to work. Tucker, who had stayed in the game, doubled into the ivy in right field with one out in the bottom of the third. One out later, Pete Crow-Armstrong singled Tucker in [VIDEO].

Dansby Swanson followed with this double, scoring PCA [VIDEO].

Michael Busch followed with this home run, making it 4-0 Cubs [VIDEO].

Busch’s eighth of the year was his first since May 9, and was absolutely crushed through another strong wind blowing in [VIDEO].

Fun fact about Busch’s home run from BCB’s JohnW53:

Busch’s home run was the first this season by a Cub batting sixth. That was the only spot in the order on any team that had had no homers.

All four runs in the inning scored after two were out, an excellent performance — four straight hits after two out, including a single by Nico Hoerner that followed Busch’s homer.

Taillon continueed to retire Reds, allowing another single in the fifth. He got some help in that inning from his defense; this catch by Swanson was pretty sweet [VIDEO].

In the bottom of the inning, the Cubs put another run on the board. With one out, PCA singled and stole second, his second steal of the day on his third hit of the afternoon. About that, from BCB’s JohnW53:

Pete Crow-Armstrong has three hits and two stolen bases. It is the third time he has done that this season. He had a game last year with three hits and three steals.

Nico Hoerner and Kyle Tucker both have had three and two this year. Hoerner also did it in 2022. Those are the only eight such games by a Cub since Jason Heyward did it on April 6, 2019.

The last Cub with more than three hits and multiple steals was Emilio Bonifacio, with five and two, in a 16-inning game at Pittsburgh on April 2, 2014.

Now where else would you find a random Emilio Bonifacio fact?

Anyway... one out after PCA’s steal, a single by Busch scored him to make it 5-0 [VIDEO].

In the top of the sixth, Taillon issued a two-out walk. That was too bad, because Elly De La Cruz followed that with a two-run homer, because what would a Taillon start be without a home run allowed? The Cubs asked for a review, but the home run was confirmed.

Kidding, mostly. Taillon threw really well in this game, allowing only three hits over 6⅓ innings, 97 pitches, 63 strikes. That does make six straight starts in which Taillon has allowed at least one home run, and he is still leading MLB with 16 home runs allowed (tied with Zack Littell of the Rays).

Taillon was removed with one out in the seventh and Caleb Thielbar finished that inning without incident.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Cubs got the two runs from the De La Cruz homer back. Seiya Suzuki reached on an error by Santiago Espinal (tough error, that one might eventually get changed to a hit). Then Will Benson dropped PCA’s fly ball in left for a two-base error. Swanson struck out and Busch ran a 3-0 count before the Reds intentionally passed him to load the bases.

That brought up Nico [VIDEO].

The two-run single gave the Cubs their five-run lead back.

Brad Keller had been warming up, but with the lead increased, Ryan Pressly got up instead and threw the eighth. It was a good inning for Pressly, as he struck out all three batters he faced.

Ryan Brasier entered to throw the ninth. He allowed a walk and single with one out, putting Reds on first and third. A sac fly by Tyler Stephenson made it 7-3, and with the runners on base Daniel Palencia briefly got up in the bullpen.

Brasier finished things off with this strikeout [VIDEO].

The Cardinals lost to the Rangers Sunday, so the Cubs have their largest lead of the year in the NL Central at four games, and they now stand 15 games over .500. As I noted here last week, that’s their biggest number over .500 since the last regular-season game of 2018, when they were 95-67, or 28 games over. So it’s a way to go until the next such milestone... but I do think this Cubs team has a real chance of getting there.

Thus:

The Cubs will enjoy Monday off, their last off day for a while, as they will play 13 days in a row beginning Tuesday in Washington against the Nationals. Once again, the Cubs do not yet have any starters listed for that series. If they remain in rotation order, Cade Horton should throw the series opener. Old friend Trevor Williams will start for the Nats on Tuesday. Game time Tuesday is 5:45 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.