CHICAGO — The All-Star break is in the rearview mirror, and the Cubs opened baseball’s unofficial second half with the red-hot Boston Red Sox in town.
One of the Cubs’ All-Star snubs — Seiya Suzuki — sparked a fast start Friday at Wrigley Field, sparking a 4-1 win over the Red Sox, who had been on a 10-game winning streak.
The Cubs (58-39) have won three in a row, and they will look to pick up their second consecutive series victory Saturday night.
Here are three takeaways from the Cubs-Red Sox series opener:
All-Star performance
Suzuki had a very strong case to represent the Cubs at the Midsummer Classic earlier this week in Atlanta. He had 25 home runs, 77 RBI and an .867 OPS in the first half, all pretty staggering numbers.
Instead, Suzuki was able to have some well-earned days off but showed no rust.
The designated hitter clobbered a three-run homer off Lucas Giolito in the first inning staking the Cubs to a lead they would not relinquish.
It as the perfect start for the Cubs’ offense. Michael Busch — making his second start in the leadoff spot — opened the frame up with a six-pitch walk. Kyle Tucker coaxed a long plate appearance himself, drawing a free pass on eight pitches.
Suzuki — whose concerted effort this season to be more aggressive has led to more offensive success — needed just one pitch to deposit in the center field basket and send the 41,011 fans in attendance into a frenzy.
Defense still plays
The Cubs’ offense has rightfully stolen the spotlight this season. They’ve scored the second-most runs in baseball this season and four of their seven qualified hitters have an OPS above .800.
The boys mash, but they can flash with the leather, too — the Red Sox saw that firsthand.
Tucker made a sliding catch in right field with one out and a runner on first in the second inning, robbing Trevor Story of extra bases and potentially keeping Boston off the scoreboard. It was a similar play to the one he made in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, when he made a sliding catch in left field to rob Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh of a hit.
The real showstopper, though, came from Pete Crow-Armstrong, of course.
Friday’s starter Colin Rea had run into some trouble to open the fifth inning. He allowed a single and a walk to start things off, bringing up slugger Alex Bregman in a prime situation to do some damage.
The third baseman hit a 106.2 mph liner to center field — a ball with a .740 expected batting average, per Statcast — but Crow-Armstrong glided over, making the catch before throwing it to Nico Hoerner at second base for a crucial — albeit unexpected — 8-4 double play.
The Cubs’ offense is fun, no doubts, but the defense should always be a constant and help them steal outs – like they did on Friday.
Rea’s day
Rea has been nails for the Cubs since the beginning of June – one bad outing against the Mariners on June 22 aside. In seven outings in that span, Rea has a 3.86 ERA.
He continued that run on Friday, tossing five scoreless innings in the win.
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While much of the talk the next two-plus weeks will center around what pitching additions the Cubs could make, an in-house arm like Rea is still vital – and he showed that on Friday.
He’s not flashy, but he’s still needed in this Cubs pitching staff. Injuries have decimated this rotation – Justin Steele is out for the year, Jameson Taillon is on the injured list and Shota Imanaga missed a large chunk of the year with a hamstring injury, too.
Someone like Rea can do a lot for a pitching staff, as he showed on Friday and for large swaths of the season.