BOSTON — With a banged-up Chicago Cubs team missing two of its best bats heading to Boston, where Red Sox pitching has been on a roll, it felt like a rough patch could be coming. Kutter Crawford may not be a big name, but with a 0.66 ERA entering Friday night’s game, it could have been a daunting task for the Cubs offense.
For now, gone are Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger. Justin Steele is working his way back from his Opening Day injury, tossing 47 pitches in 2 1/3 innings in an extended spring training game in Arizona. But the Cubs keep finding ways to win, this time jumping on Crawford for four runs and topping the Red Sox 7-1.
Early in the week, manager Craig Counsell said it wasn’t possible to improve the offense without Suzuki and Bellinger. The hope had to be that at least in a short stretch, others could provide a spark and minimize the damage. So far, that’s exactly what’s happened.
“That’s why we’re scoring runs because we’re getting guys stepping up,” Counsell said. “We’ll need it for a little while longer. Those guys aren’t going to be back for a while. So just continue. You’re talking about different guys on a daily basis, which is important to a consistent offense.”
On Friday, nine Cubs had hits, five drove in runs and four had multihit efforts. After being the star Thursday, Pete Crow-Armstrong added two more hits and two RBIs on Friday. With three hits, Michael Busch snapped an 0-for-15 stretch, during which he struck out nine times. Matt Mervis got his first hit of the season, driving in the Cubs’ first run. Christopher Morel added two hits, including a double, scoring one run and knocking in one.
“There’s a lot of really good players and good professionals,” said Dansby Swanson, who had a pair of hits and two runs scored.
A gapper a day keeps the Monster away. #DailyWisdom pic.twitter.com/JPh5gY818e
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 27, 2024
Swanson went on to name numerous players who have stepped up over the last week-plus and pointed out that the bottom of the lineup has put together strong at-bats, as well.
“It’s really fun to be a part of a group that does that,” Swanson said. “(Counsell) does such a good job of instilling confidence in guys and putting guys in a position to be successful.”
Of course, this goes beyond the offense. Shota Imanaga delivered 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball, striking out seven and walking just one while scattering five hits. Imanaga has been brilliant to start his career, posting a 0.98 ERA. That’s the lowest ERA by a Cubs rookie pitcher through his first five starts in the live-ball era and the lowest in the first five starts as a Cub since Cole Hamels (0.79) dominated after being acquired at the 2018 trade deadline.
“Since it is a team, I don’t feel like I’m carrying the load,” Imanaga said through an interpreter. “It’s a team effort. Just the fact that I have awesome teammates, especially in the rotation, helps a lot.”
Imanaga is right, he hasn’t been alone. The pitching has led the National League over the last 13 games with 2.72 ERA. Javier Assad has been masterful, proving over and over again that he deserves the rotation spot he may have had only because Jameson Taillon started the season on the IL. Taillon has impressed in his two starts since returning from injury. Ben Brown, who will start Saturday, has looked strong in various roles.
At the start of the week, Counsell said he’d have to push his starters considering they were about to embark on a stretch of 16 games in 16 days. Four games in, each starter has pitched into the sixth.
“Give them credit,” Swanson said. “They’ve done good all season, (but) the pitching has been tremendous the last week and a half. At times we probably weren’t swinging the bats great, they’d pick us up and continue to pitch. It’s been awesome.”
The Cubs have yet to be at their best this season and still are 17-9. At times, they’ve won for different reasons. The offense was humming along early, and now the pitching, both starters and relievers, has stepped up. The hope is they’ll get fully healthy at some point and become a really dangerous team. With so many younger players getting action now and a deep bench doing yeoman’s work, it should only help them as the season progresses.
It’s just 26 games in. There’s a lot of baseball to be played. But perhaps this is just a good baseball team.
“I reckon,” Swanson said. “I feel like we all knew and believed we had a really good team. Maybe this was the best way to show it. It’s unfortunate with the injuries, but we can do this. That’s why we’re the Chicago Cubs, it’s a total group effort.”
(Photo of Pete Crow-Armstrong’s sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning Friday: David Butler II / USA Today)
