Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (9/4/23): Cubs 5, Giants 0 – Steele, Suzuki Shine in Shutout

The Cubs series against the Giants got off to a great start thanks to a stellar performance from Cy Young candidate Justin Steele on Monday. Seiya Suzuki provided all the offense Chicago would need in another shutout victory.

San Francisco ace Logan Webb was also on his game this Labor Day and both pitchers dominated most of the afternoon. Suzuki did the only damage in the first six innings with a long solo home run to right in the 2nd.

Steele mowed down the Giants hitters Monday allowing just a hit and a walk while piling up strikeouts through the first six frames. Suzuki doubled in a run and Yan Gomes singled him home to increase the advantage to 3-0 in the bottom of the 7th.

The Cubs ace went back out for the 8th inning and finished strong with his 12th strikeout of the game to end his day. Dansby Swanson added an RBI single and Suzuki grounded out for his third RBI in the bottom of the frame.

José Cuas cleaned up the 9th inning and Chicago took home an easy 5-0 win. (Box score)

Key Moment

The Cubs have had issues holding on to slim leads recently, so getting to Webb and adding a pair of insurance runs in the 7th inning was huge.

Why the Cubs Won

They got a masterpiece starting pitching performance and were able to score more than enough to make it a pretty comfortable victory.

Stats That Matter

• The numbers tell you all you need to know about Steele: 8 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 12 K, and 2 BB.
• Suzuki has been very good the last month and did an excellent job driving the ball the opposite way all day.
• Gomes had two more hits and has been huge behind the plate all season.

Bottom Line

Steele absolutely should be one of the finalists for the National League Cy Young Award and I think he should win it. His performance today also gave the bullpen some much-needed rest after being leaned on so heavily recently. The Cubs won their 74th game of the season on Monday, which equals their total for all of 2022. This is just more evidence this squad has improved significantly over the last year’s version.

On Deck

Game two of the series is Tuesday night at 6:40pm CT. Kyle Hendricks takes the mound for the Cubs and the Giants have not named a starter in the matchup airing on TBS, Marquee, and 670 The Score.