The Cubs looked dialed in from the jump Monday night in Arizona, and by the end of the night they had a 7-0 win, a half-game gain in the NL Central, and a starter who turned in his sharpest outing since joining the club.
Kevin Gausman set the tone. In his fourth start with Chicago, the 35-year-old right-hander worked seven shutout innings, struck out six, and allowed just three hits as the Diamondbacks never found much of anything against him. Chicago backed him with 7 runs on 10 hits and two homers, making it a clean, complete night for a team that keeps piling up offense.
The key was a change in how Gausman attacked the game. He leaned much harder on his fastball than he had all season, bumping its usage from 50.8 percent to 66.0 percent.
Gausman, who usually gets ground balls and swings-and-misses with his splitter, still threw that pitch 27 times, but Arizona appeared ready for it. Instead, he pounded the zone with the heater and piled up 24 called strike fastballs, tied for the second most in the Statcast era according to Meghan Montemurro.
Craig Counsell pointed to the fastball as the difference after the game.
That adjustment turned the night into a showcase for a veteran pitcher reading the moment and taking what the Diamondbacks were giving him. It also gave Chicago another reminder of why it went out and traded for him this July.
The Cubs’ offense did plenty of work too, even with Pete Crow-Armstrong going 0-for-5. Chicago came in leading the majors in August with 40 home runs, and the power kept showing up. Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly went back-to-back in the top of the sixth, adding to a month in which the Cubs have posted 6.3 fWAR and a league-best .474 slugging percentage.
Conforto was especially productive, finishing with three hits from the DH spot for just the third time this season and his first three-hit game since July 1. The 33-year-old has pushed his season OPS to .799 and has settled into a strong part-time role in Chicago.
Pedro Ramirez kept contributing as well. He had two more hits, including an RBI triple in the second inning that got the Cubs on the board, and he now has six hits over his last three games. After a slow start, the rookie is beginning to hit again in an everyday role and stretch the lineup deeper.
Chicago did not exactly feast with runners in scoring position, going 2-for-8 there, but the extra-base damage made up for it. Six of the Cubs’ 10 hits came from the bottom three spots in the order, another sign that the production was coming from all over the lineup.
The only real heat of the night came in the fifth inning, when Merrill Kelly and the Diamondbacks’ dugout took exception to what was happening between the Cubs’ third base coach Quentin Berry and the hitters. After Seiya Suzuki doubled off the left-field wall to drive in Michael Conforto and make it 2-0, Berry appeared to try to relay a sign to Suzuki so it could get to Michael Busch.
Kelly noticed, and the benches exchanged words. Counsell later described it as “gamesmanship,” while Kelly called it “bush league” in his postgame comments.
Kelly had been cruising before that, retiring seven straight Cubs batters before Conforto’s leadoff double in the fifth. But once Chicago started squaring him up, the game got away from Arizona quickly. The Cubs finished the night with an easy win, and with the Brewers off, they moved to 5.5 games back in the division.
Chicago and Arizona meet again Tuesday night with Clay Holmes set to face Brandon Prfaadt, and the first pitch is scheduled for 8:40 PM.
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Michael Conforto was back in the designated hitter spot for the Cubs for a second straight game, giving Chicago another look at a bat that has been part of the recent mix. On the other side, Ketel Marte remained on the injured list, leaving Arizona short one of its most important players and forcing former Cub Ildemaro Vargas to handle second base again as the Diamondbacks try to keep pace in a crowded chase. [Read more 🡒]