CINCINNATI — Chicago Cubs fans have been waiting on Alex Bregman to deliver for the entire first half.
It has been a frustrating wait for everyone, but Bregman has kept the faith, knowing his swing eventually would come around.
Bregman came through Saturday, delivering a two-run, seventh-inning home run to vault the Cubs to a 5-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark.
“We want to get back on the winning side, and to be able to put us in front there felt great,” Bregman said. “It felt awesome honestly. Hopefully, more of that.”
Bregman’s home run off Julian Garcia, his eighth of the season, snapped a 3-3 tie. Caleb Thielbar and Jacob Webb pitched scoreless innings to get it to the ninth, and Trent Thornton stranded the tying runs on base to notch his third save and second of the trip.
“He’s just got big guts, and he made three great pitches tonight,” manager Craig Counsell said. “The end of the game, that last out in the ninth inning, it’s a difficult inning. People say it’s not, it’s just three outs. But it’s not. it’s more than that. It’s harder. And Thorny certainly has stepped up when we needed him.”
Ryan Rolison got the save opportunity to start the ninth but was greeted with a first-pitch single by Tyler Stephenson, who advanced on a wild pitch and went to third on a lineout to deep right. Rolison struck out Noelvi Marte before walking Elly De La Cruz, putting the tying run on first.
Thornton induced Sal Stewart to ground to second to end it, evening the series before Sunday’s finale, the final game of a wild first half.
Bregman’s swing has come at the right time. Is this the best he’s felt?
“Honestly, the game in Baltimore was probably the best I”ve felt, hitting four balls on the barrel,” he said.
But the best stretch?
“Oh, yeah, the last few weeks,” he said. “I’ve been working on a lot of things. Super excited for the rest of the season.”
Javier Assad allowed two solo home runs in five innings, but the Cubs offense started off the way it left off Friday, when they were shut out 4-0 in the series opener, striking out 16 times.
They finally broke their scoring drought in the fifth on Seiya Suzuki’s RBI single off Nick Lodolo, and Carson Kelly homered to start the sixth, tying the game at 2.
Lodolo left with a blister on his left index finger, and Ian Happ’s run-scoring double later in the inning gave the Cubs the lead. But JJ Bleday homered on the first pitch from Drew Pomeranz in the bottom of the inning, tying it again and conjuring notions of a bullpen collapse.
But the bullpen as a whole came through, including Thornton, who pumped his fist like he had won the World Series. Being a closer is a new thing for him, even as Counsell said they don’t really have a closer with Daniel Palencia out. Thornton seems to like the challenge.
“Before this year, I had one save,” Thornton said. “I’m not going to complain at all. As long as we’re getting the job done and winning games, that’s all that matters at the end of the day.
“It doesn’t matter whose hand it’s coming out of. There are a lot of guys in the bullpen with saves this year.”
Matthew Boyd takes the mound Sunday as the Cubs try to end the first half on a high note and rest up for what assuredly will be another wild ride in the second half.
“It’s been kind of some high highs, some low lows,” Bregman said of the half. “We’ll hopefully be as consistent as possible in the second half as a unit. Obviously we know there are going to be some ups and down over the course of this season.”
That’s a given with this team, which has been the definition of streaky.
