Cubs 7, Reds 5: Dansby Swanson’s homer wins it

It rained in Chicago Saturday. A lot. And the game between the Cubs and Reds was delayed. A lot. Three hours and 20 minutes, to be exact.

In the end, the wait was worth it, as a two-run homer by Dansby Swanson in the eighth inning broke a 5-5 tie and gave the Cubs a 7-5 win over the Reds as the clock pushed past midnight.

So... (checks watch)... that meant the scheduled 6:15 p.m. festivities at Wrigley Field began at 9:35 p.m. And it was still raining, lightly, when play began. This made it difficult for starters Justin Steele and Hunter Greene to grip the ball, and it showed. Steele did fine in the first inning, striking out all three batters he faced, but then got in trouble in the second. After a strikeout, he allowed a single, walk and hit a batter to load the bases. Santiago Espinal, who ruined Friday’s game with a late home run, popped up.

That brought up Reds catcher Luke Maile, who flied out to right. Or, would have, if Seiya Suzuki had... oh, no, Seiya! [VIDEO]

The ball went in and out of Suzuki’s glove. Was it because it was wet? In any case, three runs scored, and per BCB’s JohnW53:

Previous Cubs outfielders who dropped a fly ball, allowing three runs to score:

July 1, 1969, by Don Young at home vs. the Expos

Aug. 19, 1993, by Candy Maldonado at home vs. the Expos, on the first play after entering the game in a double switch

Sept. 23, 1998, by Brant Brown at Milwaukee, in the ninth inning, turning a 7-5 lead into an 8-7 loss

Sept. 17, 2000, by Sammy Sosa at St. Louis

You probably remember at least one of those. Also, the Cubs traded Maldonado to Cleveland for Glenallen Hill right after that game was over. (True story. Maldonado played for Cleveland the next day.)

Anyway, a subsequent single made it 4-0 Reds, and combined with the still steady light rain, made the game pretty miserable at that point.

But the same wet conditions hurt Greene. He issued a pair of walks leading off the second, to Nico Hoerner and Swanson, and after Pete Crow-Armstrong struck out, Miguel Amaya also walked to load the bases.

Mike Tauchman then struck out, bringing up Suzuki.

Suzuki got all the runs back that his error let in, plus one [VIDEO].

The ball hit the back concourse of the bleachers behind the last row of seats, and was crushed! [VIDEO]

That had to feel really, really good for Suzuki. It was his second home run since May 15, and from BCB’s JohnW53;

Previous Cubs who hit a grand slam to erase a 4-0 deficit:

Jim Gleeson, June 30, 1940, first game, top fifth at Cincinnati

Ernie Banks, May 28, 1961, bottom eighth vs. San Francisco

Mel Hall, Aug. 29, 1983, top fifth at Atlanta

Kris Bryant, April 26, 2021, top fourth at Atlanta

It should be noted that the Cubs lost three of those four games, winning only the one in 1983. Saturday’s victory would make it two wins in five such games.

Lastly, in case you were wondering:

Steele loaded the bases full of Reds in the third but got out of it, ending the inning with his own slick fielding play [VIDEO].

Then two Cubs (Christopher Morel and Ian Happ) were hit by Greene pitches in the bottom of the inning.

A single by Hoerner scored Morel to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead [VIDEO].

The Reds pushed across a run in the fourth on an RBI single by Jeimer Candelario and it might have been more if not for this good play by Morel on Elly De La Cruz at third [VIDEO].

Morel kept the tag on as De La Cruz’s hand came off the base before his foot touched it. The safe call on the field was overturned on review.

And that 5-5 tie was where the game stood until the eighth. Steele threw pretty well, I thought, despite the walks, and only one of the five runs off him was earned due to Suzuki’s error. The Cubs also got good setup relief work from Hayden Wesneski (scoreless inning, three strikeouts), Porter Hodge (scoreless inning) and Mark Leiter Jr. (1-2-3 inning).

But the Cubs could do nothing against Reds relievers, either, until the eighth. With one out, Hoerner walked.

That brought up Swanson [VIDEO].

Swanson has been mired in an awful slump for the last week or so, but over the last two games is 2-for-7, both extra-base hits, and a walk. The Cubs need Swanson (and others, too) to start hitting. Maybe it’s happening.

So, the Cubs have a two-run lead in the ninth and on comes Hector Neris. Friends, let me say — and I don’t think you’ll disagree — this did not fill me with confidence. Neris gave up a one-out single to Spencer Steer, then got the second out on a fly to left.

That brought up Jonathan India, and Neris struck him out to end the game [VIDEO].

It took a while — the game ended more than six hours after the scheduled starting time — but the win was satisfying nevertheless. Coupled with the Cardinals’ loss in Philadelphia, the Cubs move back into second place in the NL Central.

Now, I have some comments about the playing of this game. Yes, I am happy the Cubs won, but this game should never have been played, period, end of story. It rained in Chicago from around 10 a.m. Saturday until after the game started, with only a few breaks, not really enough for a “window.” I repeat, there was no “window.” The game should have been called off at noon.

I do understand there are a lot of moving parts here — the teams, MLB, the Players Association, a few too many layers in my view — but there’s also an afternoon game today! Players likely didn’t get home, or to their hotel in the Reds’ case, until 2 a.m. or so. Now they’ve got to be back at Wrigley mid-morning for an afternoon game? That’s just wrong for players. Playing in those conditions helped lead, I believe, to some of the bad play early on, with all the walks, hit batters and Suzuki’s error.

There is a perfectly good off day in the schedule Thursday, September 26, both the Cubs and Reds are off, it’s right before the next time the Reds visit Wrigley. I am at a complete loss to understand why this game wasn’t called off early in the day and rescheduled for the September date. It can’t be Fox-TV — they aired Cardinals/Phillies in the region the Cubs game was supposed to air, so all their commercials got broadcast. And then the Cubs and Reds were aired in Chicago and Cincinnati only, so those two Fox affiliates carried TWO games. (And speaking of Fox, this was the Cubs’ first 2024 win broadcast on a national TV network, after five losses: 0-1 on Fox, 0-3 on ESPN and 0-1 on Apple TV+.)

Yes, I understand there’s a certain amount of inconvenience to ask the Cubs and Reds to give up an off day, even in September, but in this case it should have been done. (Maybe the Cubs will even have a decent bullpen by then.)

I thought MLB had learned its lesson about playing in conditions like this from that Cubs/Dodgers game at Wrigley in April. Guess not.

Speaking of rain delays:

Honestly, those top four are ridiculous — and especially this one, when there was a perfectly suitable makeup date.

And yes, there’s another Cubs/Reds game just a few hours from the posting time of this recap. Ben Brown will start for the Cubs and Nick Lodolo will go for the Reds. Game time is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.