Kyle Tucker, who’d been in a bit of a slump, had three hits and a home run for the second straight day, helping lead the Cubs to a 2-1 win over the Marlins. In so doing they took the series, as well as the season series, from the Fish.

Let’s get right to it.

Tucker was the second batter of the game and got things going for the Cubs right away with his second home run in as many days [VIDEO].

Tucker seems to have gotten untracked; his swings are better and the results show it.

Cade Horton got himself in trouble in the bottom of the first with some long at-bats, singles and a walk. The Marlins had the bases loaded when Matt Shaw made this nice stop [VIDEO].

A run scored, but more might have if Shaw doesn’t make that play. The bases remained loaded, and Nico Hoerner likely saved two runs with this great play [VIDEO].

Then Horton and Marlins starter Max Meyer started reeling off zeroes. The game remained 1-1 through five. Horton, in particular, threw very well after that rough first inning. He didn’t allow any more runs. I was actually a bit surprised that he came out for the sixth inning, but Craig Counsell clearly had a plan there. Horton retired the first Marlins hitter of the sixth and then gave way to Caleb Thielbar, who ended that inning with no issues.

Horton’s 92 pitches were the most he has thrown in a game at any time in his professional career — yep, he never threw that many in any of his minor-league games, and he appeared to get better as the game went on. Here’s more on Horton’s outing [VIDEO].

The Cubs couldn’t score in the seventh, but Thielbar, remaining in the game for the bottom of the seventh, issued a one-out walk. That brought on Brad Keller, who ended the inning with a double play.

The Cubs took the lead in the top of the eighth. Matt Shaw led off the inning with a walk and stole second [VIDEO].

That steal turned out to be very, very important. Tucker was the next hitter [VIDEO].

Shaw was going to hold at third, but the ball got through Kyle Stowers in left field for an error, and Shaw scored to make it 2-1.

Keller threw a 1-2-3 eighth, overall recording five outs on just 17 pitches. Credit where it’s due, I didn’t think Keller was a useful pickup when I heard about it during Spring Training, but I was wrong. He’s been just excellent, and turns out to be a great signing by Jed Hoyer.

Michael Busch led off the ninth with a ball that appeared that it might have left the yard [VIDEO].

On review, though, you can see the ball hit off the white area at the top of the wall, so instead it was a double for Busch. Two outs later, Busch tried to score on a single by Miguel Amaya and was… out by a lot [VIDEO].

That clip, obviously, is from the Marlins broadcast and… “oh, ho, ho, ho, ho,” was all they could say. On Marquee, JD said he was okay with sending the runner with two out, but I wonder if the Cubs might have scored that insurance run by holding Busch at third with Shaw coming up. Since his return Shaw is 5-for-10 and has looked very good at bat and in the field.

In any case, Craig Counsell went to Daniel Palencia for the save, coming right back with confidence in the young righthander after his blown save Monday.

This time, it worked. Palencia retired the side in order on 13 pitches for his second MLB save. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].

Granted that the balls were all fairly hard-hit, but the ballpark held all of them and the Cubs had the win. Notes on this win from BCB’s JohnW53:

This is the third time in seven seasons that the Cubs have started 30-20, following 2019 and 2020. They were 30-20 to begin three seasons between 1924 and 1938, then in 1955, 1973 and 2001. The only seasons in the last 88 in which they started better than 30-20 were 2016 (35-15), 1969 (34-16) and 1977 and 1985 (both 31-9).

The Cubs had won one game by 2-1 earlier this season, at San Diego in 10 innings on April 15. They had two such wins all of last season, two in 2023 and seven in 2022. They have had 440 since 1901, about 3.5 per year. This was their seventh vs. the Marlins and the fourth at Miami. The others were in 1993, 1996 and Sept. 20, 2022.

30-20 is a .600 winning percentage which, if held all season, would result in 97 wins. That’d work.

The Tigers defeated the Cardinals Wednesday afternoon, 5-1, so the Cubs leave for their series in Cincinnati with a three-game lead in the NL Central.

Last note from me: I’ll be interested to see the Ump Scorecard for this game, because CB Bucknor made some questionable ball-and-strike calls. To be fair, they affected both teams. Bucknor, as you surely know, has never been a good ball-and-strike umpire, and he showed that again in this game.

The Cubs once again have a Thursday off day this week, and will resume the 2025 schedule Friday evening in Cincinnati. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Hunter Greene will go for the Reds. Game time Friday is 5:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.