Cubs 7, Reds 5: Dansby Swanson homer wins

It rained on Saturday in Chicago. A lot. And the game between the Cubs and Reds was delayed. A lot. Three hours and 20 minutes, to be exact.

Ultimately, the wait was worth it, as a two-run homer by Dansby Swanson in the eighth inning broke a 5-5 tie and gave the Cubs a 7-5 victory over the Reds as the clock passed midnight.

So… (checks watch)… that meant the festivities scheduled for 6:15 p.m. at Wrigley Field started at 9:35 p.m. And it was still raining, lightly, when the game started. This made it difficult for starters Justin Steele and Hunter Greene to grab the ball, and it showed. Steele performed well in the first inning, striking out all three batters he faced, but then ran into trouble in the second. After a strikeout, he allowed a single, walked and hit a batter to load the bases. Santiago Espinal, who spoiled Friday’s game with a late home run, appeared.

That brought in Reds catcher Luke Maile, who flew to the right. Or, would have, if Seiya Suzuki had… oh, no, Seiya! (VIDEO)

The ball went in and out of Suzuki’s glove. Was it because he was wet? In all cases, three points were scored, and according to BCB’s JohnW53:

Former Cubs outfielders who dropped a ball, allowing three runs to score:

July 1, 1969, by Don Young at home against the Expos

August 19, 1993, by Candy Maldonado at home against the Expos, in the first game after entering the game on a double change

September 23, 1998, by Brant Brown in Milwaukee, in the ninth inning, turning a 7-5 lead into an 8-7 loss

September 17, 2000, by Sammy Sosa in St. Louis

You probably remember at least one. Additionally, the Cubs traded Maldonado to Cleveland for Glenallen Hill right after this game ended. (True story. Maldonado played for Cleveland the next day.)

Regardless, a subsequent single made the score 4-0 for the Reds, and combined with the still constant light rain, made the game pretty miserable at this point.

But the same wet conditions took a toll on Greene. He issued two walks in the top of the second, to Nico Hoerner and Swanson, and after Pete Crow-Armstrong grounded out, Miguel Amaya also walked to load the bases.

Mike Tauchman then struck out, bringing up Suzuki.

Suzuki got all the points left by his mistake, plus one (VIDEO).

The ball hit the back aisle of the stands behind the last row of seats and was crushed! (VIDEO)

This must have been really good for Suzuki. It was his second home run since May 15, and BCB’s JohnW53;

Previous Cubs who hit a grand slam to erase a 4-0 deficit:

Jim Gleeson, June 30, 1940, first game, fifth in Cincinnati

Ernie Banks, May 28, 1961, eighth behind against San Francisco

Mel Hall, August 29, 1983, fifth in Atlanta

Kris Bryant, April 26, 2021, fourth in Atlanta

It’s worth noting that the Cubs have lost three of those four games, winning only the one in 1983. Saturday’s win would make it two wins in five such games.

Finally, in case you were wondering:

Steele loaded the Reds’ bases full in the third, but got away with it, ending the inning with a defensive play of his own (VIDEO).

Then, two Cubs (Christopher Morel and Ian Happ) were hit by pitches from Greene late in the inning.

A Hoerner single scored Morel to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead (VIDEO).

The Reds managed a run in the fourth on an RBI single by Jeimer Candelario and it could have been more without this good play by Morel on Elly De La Cruz in the third (VIDEO).

Morel kept the tag as De La Cruz’s hand left the base before his foot touched it. The field safety call was canceled after review.

And it was on this 5-5 tie that the match took place until the eighth. Steele pitched pretty well, I thought, despite the walks, and only one of the five runs was earned because of Suzuki’s error. The Cubs also benefited from good relief work from Hayden Wesneski (scoreless inning, three strikeouts), Porter Hodge (scoreless inning) and Mark Leiter Jr. (1-2-3 inning).

But the Cubs couldn’t do anything against the Reds relievers until the eighth. With one out, Hoerner walked.

This brought Swanson (VIDEO).

Swanson has been mired in a terrible slump over the past week, but over the last two games he’s been 2-for-7, with extra base hits and a walk. The Cubs need Swanson (and others too) to start hitting. Maybe it’s happening.

So the Cubs have a two-run lead in the ninth and in comes Hector Neris. My friends, let me tell you – and I don’t think you will disagree – that this did not give me confidence. Neris gave up a one-out single to Spencer Steer, then got the second out on a fly to left.

This brought in Jonathan India and Neris struck him out to end the match (VIDEO).

It took a while – the match ended more than six hours after the scheduled start time – but the victory was satisfying nonetheless. Coupled with the Cardinals’ loss in Philadelphia, the Cubs return to second place in the NL Central.

Now I have some comments on how this game went. Yes, I’m happy the Cubs won, but this game should never have been played, period, end of story. It rained in Chicago from 10 a.m. Saturday until the start of the game, with only a few breaks, not really enough for a “window.” I repeat, there was no “window”. The match should have been stopped at noon.

I understand there are a lot of moving parts here – teams, MLB, the Players Association, a few too many layers in my opinion – but there’s also an afternoon game today! The players probably didn’t get home, or their hotel in the Reds’ case, until around 2 a.m. Now they have to be back at Wrigley mid-morning for an afternoon game? This is simply wrong for the players. Playing in those conditions contributed, I believe, to some bad plays early on, with all the walks, batters and Suzuki errors.

There is a very good day off in the schedule on Thursday September 26th, the Cubs and Reds are off, it is just before the Reds next visit to Wrigley. I have no idea why this match wasn’t canceled earlier today and rescheduled for September. This can’t be Fox-TV – they aired the Cardinals/Phillies in the area where the Cubs game was supposed to be broadcast, so all their commercials aired. And then the Cubs and Reds were only shown in Chicago and Cincinnati, so those two Fox affiliates aired TWO games. (And speaking of Fox, this was the Cubs’ first win of 2024 broadcast on a national television network, after five losses: 0-1 on Fox, 0-3 on ESPN and 0-1 on Apple TV+. )

Yes, I understand there is some downside to asking the Cubs and Reds to forgo an off day, even in September, but in this case it should have been done. (Maybe the Cubs will even have a decent bullpen by then.)

I thought MLB learned its lesson about playing in such conditions during the Cubs/Dodgers game at Wrigley in April. I do not think so.

Speaking of rain delays:

Honestly, these first four are ridiculous – especially this one, when there was a perfectly fitting makeup date.

And yes, there is another Cubs/Reds game just a few hours from the time this recap is posted. Ben Brown will start for the Cubs and Nick Lodolo for the Reds. Game time is 1:20 p.m. CT and television coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.