DETROIT \u2014 The Cubs have chosen not to use a home run prop in the dugout, like Boston’s monster mask or Toronto’s homer jacket.<\/p>\n
What would the Cubs even do? Goat horns? Throws sticks of gum (Wrigley brand, of course) at the hitter? Toss a deep dish pizza like a Frisbee?<\/p>\n
There is an evolving home run ritual, but it’s a little more wholesome and is only done in specific circumstances. When Seiya Suzuki homers, Pete Crow-Armstrong likes to sit down with him and watch the replay on an iPad.<\/p>\n
Suzuki hit 2 home runs Saturday to lead the Cubs past the Detroit Tigers 6-1 and even this \u201cbest of both leagues\u201d series at 1-1. Sunday’s finale at Comerica Park will feature Cade Horton vs. Jack Flaherty.<\/p>\n
The Cubs hit 5 home runs total, with Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch and Matt Shaw joining the parade. They finished with just 7 hits total, so circling the bases helped quite a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot having to really worry about putting guys in scoring position and playing real baseball in a game like this,\u201d Crow-Armstrong said. \u201cIt’s great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong continued to battle for the team lead in home runs and RBI. After this game Crow-Armstrong leads in home runs 17-16, while Suzuki has a slim advantage in RBI, 55-54. The pair has decided to turn those stat categories into a mini-rivalry.<\/p>\n
\u201cPete was saying that he’s the power leader of the team,\u201d Suzuki said through a translator. \u201cEverything that Pete does is like a little kid, so I feel Pete is like a little brother.\u201d<\/p>\n
A little brother with one more home run at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I let him know today,\u201d Crow-Armstrong joked. \u201cHe had to hit two and I’ve still got him. I said any day that he hits a home run, I’m going to have to do it as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I mean, if that turns into real motivation, then great. That’s awesome. We talk about it a lot, it’s always easy going up (to the plate) when the rest of the lineup makes it easy for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cubs have 88 home runs as a team this season, still a fair distance behind the Yankees and Dodgers, who had 101 each, pending Saturday night’s results.<\/p>\n
The companion piece to Cubs slugging was the pitchers didn’t allow any long balls. Starter Jameson Taillon was on his game, allowing just 1 run and 3 hits over 7 innings. This was the first time in seven starts Taillon didn’t give up a home run, going back to April 27.<\/p>\n
\n Chicago Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon throws against the Detroit Tigers in the first inning during a baseball game, Saturday, June 7, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo\/Paul Sancya)
\n AP\n <\/p>\n
Does watching the Cubs club 5 home runs serve as a reminder that the Tigers could have easily gotten right back in the game with a couple of big swings?<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve given up enough homers this year, I’m kind of always, unfortunately, thinking like that right now,\u201d Taillon said. \u201cThese guys can definitely put the ball in the seats and this lineup has a lot of slug. It’s just one of those things, be aware of where they do their damage and try to be smart and keep it out of those areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taillon (6-3) talked about how his change-up is working well right now. On Saturday, he threw the pitch 18 times and Tigers hitters swung and missed seven of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, (the change-up) is an interesting pitch because a lot of my pitches move toward left-handed batters,\u201d Taillon said. \u201cTo have a pitch that goes in the other direction is different for me. So it’s not just about speed, it’s also about having them kind of look at things moving two different directions.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong (4) celebrates his home run with Seiya Suzuki (27) against the Detroit Tigers in the seventh inning during a baseball game, Saturday, June 7, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo\/Paul Sancya)
\n AP\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 The Cubs have chosen not to use a home run prop in the dugout, like Boston’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,138,24,4245,161,4,3892,185,2462,6407],"class_list":{"0":"post-87497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-cubs","11":"tag-chicagocubs","12":"tag-cubs","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-pro-sports","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-sports-leagues","17":"tag-sports-types"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114645518599824084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87497","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=87497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}