Alex Bregman didn’t have any interest in providing insight into his post-home run thumbs-down gestures.
Bregman’s 3-run homer in the second inning of the Chicago Cubs’ 9-7 win Tuesday night over the San Diego Padres was his first since June 11 and second of the month. He hadn’t homered at Wrigley Field since going deep twice on March 29.
As Bregman approached third base in his home run trot, the Cubs third baseman gave a thumbs-down toward the dugout. He repeated it after crossing the plate and slapping hands with Kevin Alcántara and Pete Crow-Armstrong, but this time the gesture appeared toward the direction of the crowd.
When asked about the thumbs-down celebration before Wednesday’s series finale, Bregman declined to share or reveal any possible intent behind the actions, simply stating, “Nah, nothing,” adding a “no” to a question on if it was a message to anybody.
About an hour after Tuesday’s game, Bregman also posted a photo of the follow-through on his home run swing to his Instagram story, with a thumbs-down emoji beneath it and a clip of Drake’s “Fair Trade” song playing over the image.
Three days earlier in the series finale in Milwaukee, Bregman wasn’t able to beat out a bobbled ball to Brewers shortstop Cooper Pratt in the sixth inning and the Cubs trailing 1-0. Marquee’s cameras showed Bregman initially not running at full speed, eventually kicking it into another gear after Pratt’s misplay, which the TV broadcast tandem of Jim Deshaies and Alex Cohen noted in the aftermath of the sequence. Instead of having runners on the corners with one out, the Cubs faced two outs with Crow-Armstrong on third. The Cubs went on to rally for the win in 10 innings.
“I’ve also had 10 soft tissue injuries running down the first-base line specifically,” Bregman said Monday about the play. “So, it’s kind of some give-and-take, but at the same time, yeah, I obviously wish I would’ve beat the throw.”
All of it comes on the heels of Bregman’s tough start to the season. He finished June hitting .200 with only five extra-base hits in 115 plate appearances, though he had a .348 on-base percentage boosted by 19 walks. Combined with the five-year, $175 million contract he signed in the offseason, the rough offensive performance through 85 games could invite more scrutiny.
“We all find our own ways to be motivated, everybody does that,” manager Craig Counsell said Wednesday. “And I think you can pick all sorts of ways. You can pick the people that love you to motivate you, you can pick people that doubt you to motivate you, and I think we all do both at, from time to time, especially those of us, and you guys get it too, that are getting constant feedback on our performance.
“When you get constant feedback on your performance, you kind of toggle between picking the lovers and the haters and who’s motivating you.”
