Chicago Cubs Score

Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (9/5/23): Cubs 11, Giants 8 – Wild Win at Windy Wrigley

Photo of Sean Holland Sean HollandSeptember 6, 2023

The Cubs and the Giants played a crazy game Tuesday night with the wind howling out at Wrigley Field. In the end, Chicago was able to out-slug their opponents and take home a high-scoring victory. San Francisco struck first against Kyle Hendricks when LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a solo home run on the opening pitch of the game. By the time Mike Yastrzemski launched a solo shot in the 3rd, it was 3-0 for the road team.

The Cubs stormed back with four runs, mostly against Jakob Junis, in the bottom of the 4th to take the lead. Dansby Swanson singled in a run, Jeimer Candelario drew a bases-loaded walk, and Yan Gomes doubled in two more.

Joc Pederson rapped a game-tying double off of Hendricks in the top of the 6th and the Cubs starter was relieved by Hayden Wesneski. First baseman J.D. Davis wasted no time cracking a go-ahead two-run homer against Wesneski and the Giants were ahead 6-4.

After an inspired rendition of the 7th-inning stretch sung by Carlos Zambrano, the North Siders exploded for six runs in the bottom of the frame. Seiya Suzuki smacked an absolute missile of a two-run homer to left against Tyler Rogers to even the score.

Luke Jackson took over for Rogers and Candelario hit what appeared to be a routine fly ball to left that got caught up in the jet stream and blew 20 feet behind Pederson for a double. After Gomes reached on an infield hit, Nick Madrigal hit a grounder to third and the throw home got away from the catcher, bringing in the go-ahead tally.

The struggling Christopher Morel put an exclamation point on the inning with a three-run shot to center field and Wrigley was up for grabs. Brandon Crawford had an RBI single off of Mark Leiter Jr. in the 8th to cut the Cubs edge to 10-7.

Suzuki did damage to the other Rogers brother in the 8th with a vicious line-drive single right over the pitcher’s head to knock in Chicago’s 11th run of the night. Julian Merryweather gave up a dinger to Wilmer Flores in the 9th before mercifully closing out the 11-8 win. (Box score)

Key Moment

Things were starting to trend in the Giants’ direction with the difficult sidearm delivery of Tyler Rogers keeping the trailing Cubs off-balance in the bottom of the 7th. Swanson was able to work a walk and then Suzuki waited back on a hanging 1-2 curveball and plastered it for the game-tying bomb.

Why the Cubs Won

The offense was able to keep grinding and took advantage of the excellent hitting conditions to storm back and grab the lead.

Stats That Matter

  • Not great numbers for Hendricks but I’m not sure any pitcher could have succeeded with wind conditions like Tuesday night: 5.1 IP, 5 R, 4 ER, 7 H, 5 K, and 0 BB.
  • Suzuki is absolutely locked in and had four hits to push his OPS up to .807 on the season.
  • Gomes had three base knocks of his own and always seems to have a clutch moment.

Bottom Line

The Cubs have won another series and have only lost one since the end of July. Suzuki is finally turning into the player the team hoped he would be when they signed him from Japan. The best thing about this second-half surge is how the players keep picking each other up. Sometimes it’s the pitchers coming through, other times it’s the offense but the result is a lot of victories. It could always fall apart at any moment, but it is very fun right now.

On Deck

Chicago goes for the sweep Wednesday at 1:20pm CT. Jordan Wicks makes his Wrigley Field debut and San Francisco goes with another bullpen game in a contest broadcast on Marquee and 670 The Score.

Photo of Sean Holland Sean HollandSeptember 6, 2023
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