CHICAGO—The Cubs continued their first-inning parade Monday, scoring four runs in the opening frame, notably without MVP frontrunner Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Chicago’s 17-3 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers marked the second time in 72 hours that Chicago has put up 17 runs.
Once again, history.
Seven Cubs players combined to hit a franchise record nine home runs in a single game. Alex Bregman hit his third homer of the evening off Brewers position player Andrew Vaughn after Milwaukee’s pitching staff had been overwhelmed.
“I don’t know how much longer they’ll let that happen,” Bregman said on position players like Andrew Vaughn pitching. “We’ll see what happens here with the new CBA. I feel like it’s kind of a competitive advantage to get into a team’s bullpen at the beginning of a series. It’s above my pay grade to talk about that, so I don’t really care.”
The Cubs now lead the major leagues in runs scored (725), home runs (196), hits (1205), RBI (701), walks (583), OBP (.341), SLG (.434) and OPS (.775).
Bregman delivered the biggest individual performance, becoming the first Cubs player with multiple three-home-run games since Aramis Ramirez in 2004.
Tyrone Taylor added four hits to help lead the offensive onslaught. Since joining Chicago following the Aug. 3 trade deadline, Taylor has batted .409 with one home run and five runs batted in across 18 games.
Brewers starting pitcher Kyle Harrison gave up five home runs, southpaw DL Hall surrendered one, and first baseman Andrew Vaughn allowed three. The Cubs made the Friendly Confines look like Las Vegas Ballpark on a hot and humid Monday night.
“You make someone (Harrison) uncomfortable right away and you don’t let them settle in,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “The position player stuff, it gets a little ridiculous at the end there, honestly. That’s great we set a record. The guys aren’t going to stop hitting; they’re going to take advantage of it and they should, they absolutely should. We’ll take it.”
With Monday’s nine-home-run performance, Chicago has hit 62 home runs in August; the most by any MLB team in a calendar month since the New York Yankees set the all-time MLB record of 74 in August 2019.
Out of the North Siders’ 78 wins, 35 have been by eight or more runs and 20 by 10+ runs.
While the offense grabbed the headlines, Clay Holmes quietly delivered another dominant performance.
Holmes threw six shutout innings, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out eight. Acquired by the Cubs at the Aug. 3 trade deadline, the right-hander lowered his ERA to 1.55 in five starts with Chicago.
Holmes has quickly become one of the most important additions to a Cubs rotation that has experienced plenty of turnover throughout the season.
The Cubs’ starting pitching picture has continued to evolve around Holmes. Gaining consistency from Matthew Boyd and Kevin Gausman will be critical as Chicago enters the final month of the regular season.
Meanwhile, the Cubs continue to find ways to pile up wins regardless of who is carrying the load.
Earlier this season, Chicago watched Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ben Brown and various other players provide the offensive and pitching sparks on different nights. Tuesday was another example of the team’s depth, with seven different players going deep and every position player recording a hit (except Pedro Ramirez and Ian Happ, who never entered the contest).
“It was a good month,” Bregman said. “I think just the quality of at-bat in the second half has been super consistent up and down the lineup and it’s been tough on opposing teams.”
Resiliency has become a defining characteristic of this Cubs team.
Record after record has fallen throughout the season, with seemingly every night providing another new peak, or another valley, in what has been a rollercoaster season in Chicago.
On Tuesday, however, the Cubs reached another peak.
Nine home runs. Seventeen runs. And another emphatic statement from the highest-scoring offense in baseball.
