Faithful, Too: “Game 55 W and Game 56 W: A Walk-Off and Another Sweep”

My praise for young Mr. Shaw couldn’t have come at a better time.

After having a particularly nightmarish Tuesday, nerves were settled upon starting a 1,000-piece Galison Mixtapes puzzle with Kait (looking to be easier than the Frankenstein one). Soundtracking the event was the Pat Hughes on the Cubs radio broadcast calling game two of the team’s series against the woeful Rockies. It was another close one. Cubs struggled to score throughout the series despite their opponent, though fortunately their opponent struggled even more. The 2-2 game was tied up after a Rockies solo shot in the top of the 7th of rookie starter Cade Horton. That would be a rap for the youngster, who pitched his best game of the season on Tuesday. He wouldn’t be the only Cubs rookie to have a memorable night.

Come the bottom of the 9th, it was time to turn on the TV for the rest of the game, with the puzzle table (sometimes known as the dinner table) still giving full view of the Wrigley Field happenings. Cubs did jack squat in the 9th, and after the Rockies failed to score in the 10th (with a man automatically on second to start the inning, per newish extra inning rules), the Cubs came up with what I thought would be their best chance of the night to win. With their own runner on second, the Cubs had Happ/Tucker/Suzuki coming up. Game over, right? Wrong. Happ flied out, Tucker was intentionally walked, Suzuki struck out swinging (and I mean it looked ugly), then PCA grounded out. Yikes.

The top of the 11th saw the Rockies score a run on a groundout. Cubs color commentator Jim Deshaies said he didn’t think one run would be enough on this night to win the game for the Rockies. He was very, very right. With PCA on second to start the inning and after routine groundout from Swanson, Busch hit a check-swing, chip shot out to left to tie the game (did I mention PCA stole another base during his at bat?). The ridiculously-speedy Jon Berti pinch ran and quickly stole second before Nico walked. Runners on first and second. Enter Matt Shaw from my dramatic opening sentence.

Would the moment be too big for him? It was not. Opposite blooper to right field easily scored Berti and the rookie, who had been in the minors less than two weeks ago, experienced his first big-league walk-off as the Cubs won 4-3. Good…for…him. What a feather in the ball cap.

Another low-scoring affair on Wednesday night led to a 2-1 victory thanks to a marvelous Matthew Boyd outing (8 K’s in six innings), an RBI from Seiya and another PCA homer. Here’s a fun fact from Cubs beat writer Mehan Montemurro: “Seiya Suzuki & Pete Crow-Armstorng are 1st pair of teammates in Cubs history to reach 50 RBIs in the club’s first 56 games, via team historian Ed Hartig. The duo surpassed Hack Wilson/Charlie Grimm (1929), Hack Wilson/Kiki Cuyler (1930) & Ernie Banks/Ron Santo (1969), who all did it [in] 62 teams games.” Wowza, wowza, wowza.

Off day today. Cubs are off to their best start since 2016. They are in first place. They are only 1.5 games out from being the best team in baseball. Let’s go!