{"id":69897,"date":"2025-05-31T23:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T23:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/69897\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T23:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T23:59:10","slug":"chicago-cubs-ben-brown-ride-the-wind-to-a-2-0-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/69897\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs, Ben Brown ride the wind to a 2-0 win"},"content":{"rendered":"

May in Chicago this year will be remembered for a rare dust storm<\/a>, a gloomy haze from Canadian wildfires<\/a> and unseasonably chilly temperatures throughout.<\/p>\n

But if the Chicago Cubs can get to October, they\u2019ll also remember May as the month when Pete Crow-Armstrong became a bona fide star<\/a>, the bullpen finally fell into shape and they established an identity as a team that can beat you in a variety of ways.<\/p>\n

They did it again Saturday at Wrigley Field, using an opener to great success and capitalizing on a misplay by Cincinnati Reds right fielder Will Benson in a 2-0 win before a nicely chilled crowd of 39,144.<\/p>\n

The Cubs have won 14 of 19 and went 18-9 in May, improving to 36-22 on the season.<\/p>\n

Ben Brown pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit while striking out nine, after opener Drew Pomeranz pitched the first. Pomeranz, Brad Keller and Daniel Palencia combined for three hitless innings on 31 pitches, with Palencia notching his fifth save.<\/p>\n

The Cubs have learned to embrace the conditions, with temperatures in the mid-50s Saturday and a northerly wind blowing in from left field at 11 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you have to do is \u2014 not embrace it \u2014 but you have to accept it,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cIf you fight it, you\u2019re going to have problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

That meant Brown being aggressive in the zone, knowing the chances of someone going yard were slim and none. In what could be a season-defining win for him, Brown turned in his best performance as a Cub after working with a mental skills coach to avoid going into panic mode during rough starts to games<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can almost date it back to last year, where it was almost waiting for something good to happen in the first inning rather than me being on attack,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt\u2019s up to me to force the hand without overthrowing. It\u2019s an interesting dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos: Chicago Cubs beat Cincinnati Reds 2-0 at Wrigley Field<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And another interesting afternoon in a rare pitchers\u2019 duel.<\/p>\n

The game was scoreless in the eighth when the Cubs put two on with one out against reliever Graham Ashcroft. Seiya Suzuki<\/a> lifted a fly to right that Benson watched drop just inside the foul line near the Marquee Sports Network advertisement, resulting in a run-scoring double.<\/p>\n

With no foul territory, Benson had to choose between hitting the brick wall and pulling up to find the wall at the possible expense of losing track of the ball in the sun. He chose self-preservation, and it paid off for the Cubs.<\/p>\n

Suzuki told Japanese reporters he knew exactly how Benson felt, having spent most of his Cubs career in right. Left fielder Ian Happ confirmed it\u2019s a tough playing field for anyone.<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs designated hitter Seiya Suzuki gestures to teammates after hitting an RBI double against the Reds in the eighth inning May 31, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially at that point of the game, right field is getting the most amount of sun, plus the ball is moving and (the wind is) howling,\u201d Happ said. \u201cSometimes that ball is going to wind up 30 rows deep in the stands, and sometimes like that, it\u2019s going to stay in. We\u2019re lucky to have a lot of experience out here in dealing with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was not only great advertising for the Cubs-owned network, but also a shot in the arm for the Cubs offense, which had stranded four runners in scoring position over the first seven innings. After a walk by Carson Kelly and a popout by Crow-Armstrong, Dansby Swanson beat out a grounder to shortstop Elly De La Cruz for an infield hit, bringing home an insurance run.<\/p>\n

Swanson, who struck out in his three previous at-bats on \u201cDansby Swanson wig\u201d giveaway day, joked that he was \u201crunning in anger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MikeMike and Jill Lakota, wearing Dansby Swanson hairstyle wigs, kiss during batting practice before the Cubs-Reds game May 31, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the way you kind of get it out,\u201d Swanson said. \u201cNot everything is going to go perfect. \u2026 There are moments in a season that there are struggles, there\u2019s ups and downs. But effort is always one thing you can consistently give, and it worked out today for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Shaw and Crow-Armstrong confirmed that ethos during one bizarre at-bat by TJ Friedl in the ninth. Shaw fell into the netting on a foul ball and came up with the ball for an apparent catch, only for the video board to show he missed it completely, grabbed it on a bounce and faked everyone out.<\/p>\n

Given new life, Friedl lined one to center, only to watch Crow-Armstrong make a sensational diving catch for the second out.<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong catches a ball hit by Reds center fielder TJ Friedl for an out in the ninth inning on May 31, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

It was that kind of day for the Cubs, and it all started with Counsell opting to use Pomeranz as an opener to try to fix Brown\u2019s first-inning blues. After a perfect first by Pomeranz, Brown entered in the second and dominated. The Reds didn\u2019t register their first hit until Friedl singled with two outs in the sixth.<\/p>\n

Did it feel like a no-hitter for Brown?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but that would\u2019ve been asking for too much after those last two outings,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cA no-hitter too? I was just thankful to get out there and throw strike one and get through (my) first inning and slowly get my confidence back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs bullpen has an 0.78 ERA over the last 15 games, even as Counsell announced before the game that while Porter Hodge\u2019s left oblique strain is resolved, Hodge since has incurred a left hip impingement that will sideline him longer.<\/p>\n

Brown, a starter, added to the bullpen\u2019s upward mobility<\/a>. He became the third Cubs reliever since 1901 with at least six scoreless innings and nine strikeouts, and he good-naturedly informed reporters that 6% of his pitches were changeups. Brown said the media would \u201chave to figure out something new\u201d to say besides calling him a two-pitch starter.<\/p>\n

Now the big question is whether Counsell will use an opener again in Brown\u2019s next outing or take off the training wheels and let him fly on his own.<\/p>\n

In a season in which the Cubs have embraced the unknown, June \u2014 when the wind typically begins to blow out at Wrigley \u2014 should be fun to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May in Chicago this year will be remembered for a rare dust storm, a gloomy haze from Canadian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,734,138,24,4245,50,576,161,733,36,4,35,105,738],"class_list":{"0":"post-69897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-ben-brown","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-cubs","12":"tag-chicagocubs","13":"tag-cincinnati-reds","14":"tag-craig-counsell","15":"tag-cubs","16":"tag-dansby-swanson","17":"tag-ian-happ","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-pete-crow-armstrong","20":"tag-seiya-suzuki","21":"tag-wrigley-field"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114605166877768059","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69897","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=69897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}