ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 For a brief moment on Tuesday, Tropicana Field was very friendly to right-hander Javier Assad.<\/p>\n
After recording two outs in the sixth inning, manager Craig Counsell walked from the dugout to bring in left-hander Hoby Milner.<\/p>\n
But as Assad exited the field, Cubs fans rose to their feet for a thunderous standing ovation, just like a day game at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n
A once promising season had turned dour with news of Cade Horton, arguably the team\u2019s best pitcher, undergoing season-ending elbow surgery. Amid the team\u2019s lackluster start, Cubs fans needed a reprieve. They needed something to cheer for. They needed to celebrate the Cubs\u2019 9-2 win over the Rays.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was f\u2014ing sick,\u201d center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said of Assad\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
The offense showed up, stringing together quality at-bats and cashing in on opportunities and slugging for power. But Assad led the charge.<\/p>\n
Assad threw 5 \u2154 scoreless innings, striking out three and walking two in his 2026 debut. The Cubs needed Assad\u2019s steadying performance.<\/p>\n
Given all the pitching injuries ailing the Cubs, Assad not only had to have a lengthy outing to preserve the bullpen, but it needed to be quality as the Cubs looked to escape the malaise they were in.<\/p>\n
\u201cJavy has done that many times,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe stepped up when the team has needed, and we certainly need it right now and he delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the fifth, with Junior Caminero and Chandler Simpson on first and second with no outs, he needed to summon his best stuff. On a 1-2 count to Cedric Mullins, Assad got the former All-Star to strike out on a nasty changeup. Then he forced Nick Fortes to ground into a double play to end the inning and the Rays\u2019 best chance at scoring.<\/p>\n
As he left the mound, Assad showcased his trademark fiery personality, gave a fist pump toward the Cubs dugout and screamed in glee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really neat, I was not expecting that,\u201d Assad said. \u201cThere were a lot of fans out there, but it\u2019s a really good feeling, even if we\u2019re not at home, to have the crowd here.\u201d<\/p>\n
For one day, the Cubs could forget about the injury news and just enjoy a win.<\/p>\n
Bregman\u2019s breakout<\/p>\n
The underlying numbers portended a big Alex Bregman game sooner than later, and he delivered on Tuesday. Bregman was 3-for-5 in the Cubs\u2019 win. Though there wasn\u2019t any consternation about his lagging production, it felt good for Bregman to see balls find grass.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to focus on swinging a good pitch, cleaning up the bat path,\u201d Bregman said. \u201cFelt like as a team, we did a really good job today of continuing to put pressure on all game long, and a lot of guys had big days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bregman also credited Assad, whose quick, efficient innings got the defense off their feet quickly.<\/p>\n
Shaw\u2019s hot streak<\/p>\n
April has been kind to Matt Shaw. Entering play Tuesday, Shaw was batting .250\/.294\/.625 with a .919 OPS.<\/p>\n
Shaw went 2-for-5 with an RBI and is on a three-game hitting streak.<\/p>\n
Offensive breakthrough<\/p>\n
\u2022 Crow-Armstrong slugged his first homer of the season and went 3-for-5.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Moises Ballesteros went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and hit his first homer of the season.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Nico Hoerner went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 For a brief moment on Tuesday, Tropicana Field was very friendly to right-hander Javier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,4,297,2550,68,2551,2549],"class_list":{"0":"post-669497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-rays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-rays","11":"tag-tampa-bay","12":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","13":"tag-tampabay","14":"tag-tampabayrays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116366963182162042","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}