{"id":739227,"date":"2026-06-30T06:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T06:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/739227\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T06:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T06:24:21","slug":"chicago-cubs-get-an-mlb-leading-10th-walk-off-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/739227\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs get an MLB-leading 10th walk-off victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seiya Suzuki knew his career numbers against San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller weren\u2019t great.<\/p>\n

He carried a career 0-for-4 line with four strikeouts versus Miller, including last year\u2019s playoffs, into Monday\u2019s series opener. A small sample size, sure. But Suzuki knew he was in for a battle with arguably the league\u2019s best reliever on the mound.<\/p>\n

So, as Suzuki stepped into the batter\u2019s box in the bottom of the ninth inning with the winning run 90 feet away, he kept his thoughts simple: Pick one pitch in the spot he wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that at-bat there\u2019s only going to be that one pitch, so don\u2019t miss it,\u201d Suzuki later recalled.<\/p>\n

Miller is known for his electric fastball that averages 101.3 mph. However, Miller\u2019s slider has become his most-used pitch this season at a 55.3% clip with just eight hits allowed in 68 at-bats and a 59.1% whiff rate. Miller had already thrown five sliders in the first six pitches to Cubs hitters after he entered with runners on first and second and no outs in the ninth \u2014 including to start the at-bat against Suzuki.<\/p>\n

When Miller unleashed another slider, Suzuki showed no hesitation. He squared it up, slugging it 361 feet<\/a> to the left-field wall. Padres left fielder Jase Bowen retreated to the ivy and made a leaping catch. At least, that\u2019s how it momentarily appeared, until the ball rolled away on the warning track dirt as a clump of ivy fell over Bowen. Alex Bregman, part of three consecutive singles to begin the ninth, scored from third to give the Cubs a 3-2 walk-off victory.<\/p>\n

\"SeiyaSeiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs reacts after hitting a walk-off single in the ninth inning against the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field on June 29, 2026, in Chicago. (Sage Zipeto\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a slider that starts up and in, that\u2019s the one pitch that I can get to, I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t miss it,\u201d Suzuki said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. \u201cAt first I thought he caught it, but then I saw a white object that came out of the ivy, and that\u2019s when I knew it dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzuki\u2019s heroics gave the Cubs (47-38) their MLB-leading 10th walk-off win of the season, their most in a single season since 2015 (13).<\/p>\n

Moments earlier, third base coach Quintin Berry tested Bowen\u2019s arm and accuracy on Michael Busch\u2019s fly ball to shallow left field. Berry had Dansby Swanson tag up from third on Bowen, who had entered the game at the beginning of the bottom half of the inning as a defensive replacement. The left fielder delivered a 92.2 mph strike to home that easily nailed Swanson for the second out.<\/p>\n

Pete Crow-Armstrong and Bregman both tagged and advanced on the sequence, putting runners on second and third for Suzuki.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody had a good at-bat,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cWe took a chance on the fly ball, you have to go on the fly ball. They made a nice play, Seiya came through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beleaguered pitching staff<\/a> from the past week needed a deep outing from left-hander Shota Imanaga, and he delivered.<\/p>\n

Imanaga held the Padres to two runs on nine hits and four strikeouts in 6 1\/3 innings without walking a batter or allowing a home run on a humid, hot night at Wrigley Field.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga throws against the San Diego Padres during the first inning of a baseball game in Chicago, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh)<\/p>\n

San Diego took an aggressive approach against Imanaga, swinging at 50 of his 97 pitches. Using his sweeper more frequently helped keep the Padres off balance, resulting in five called strikes, two whiffs and one strikeout on the 21 he threw.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have amazing hitters on that team so it\u2019s really going into that situation of in between innings in the dugout talking to the catcher, talking to the pitching coach, \u2018OK, how do we mix, how do we limit damage?’\u201d Imanaga said through Stanberry.<\/p>\n

In his 17th start of the year, Imanaga recorded his first outing without surrendering a walk or home run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe desperately needed the length, and for him to get into the seventh inning just meant everything, and with a chance to win the game, meant everything,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cOn a night like tonight, and he was in the strike zone, and obviously no homers is a big deal, but it\u2019s kind of an odd night where he gave up nine hits, that\u2019s a lot for Shota, he generally doesn\u2019t do that, but getting into the seventh inning was the big thing \u2014 really, really big.\u201d<\/p>\n

An unlikely combination<\/a> of right-hander Gavin Hollowell, lefty Caleb Thielbar and right-hander Trent Thornton kept the Padres off the board over the final 2 2\/3 innings to keep the game tied for the Cubs\u2019 offense. Between Wednesday\u2019s doubleheader in New York, which the pitching staff is still feeling the effects from, and the mounting pitcher injuries, Counsell is having to rely on whoever is available in the \u2018pen on any given day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pitching the available guys, that\u2019s just where we\u2019re at,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s a product of winning games, it\u2019s a product of extra-inning games, but that\u2019s OK, they\u2019re doing a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seiya Suzuki knew his career numbers against San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller weren\u2019t great. He carried a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,576,161,4,256,18,105,770,7375,738],"class_list":["post-739227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-baseball","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicagocubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-cubs","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-seiya-suzuki","tag-shota-imanaga","tag-walk-off-win","tag-wrigley-field"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116837631123962386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739227","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=739227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}