Chicago Cubs left fielder Ian Happ was averaging one home run per month this season at the start of June. He had three — one in March, one in April and the other in May.
Happ added his fourth on June 5, and suddenly the balls he hits are going out of the park with a little more regularity.
He will look to continue that success when the Cubs open a four-game visit to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday.
“When you’re sitting there in the middle of May with three homers, you’re definitely frustrated,” said Happ, who hit 25 last season. “You just want to do more, want to help more. But I’ve done this long enough that I have confidence it’s going to show up at some point if you just keep making the right swings. Obviously, the last couple weeks, it’s happened.”
Happ has hit eight homers this month. Seven of those have come over his past 12 games, including three in Chicago’s three-game series against the Seattle Mariners over the weekend. Two came in a 10-7 win on Saturday before he was held to just a single in Sunday’s 14-6 loss.
Happ’s slugging .573 this month, a notable increase from the .350 slugging percentage he was averaging over the first three months of the season.
“We knew this was coming. He’s sitting there with three home runs about 10 days ago,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I don’t want to say it’s expected, but there was a home-run streak coming for him.”
Chicago enters the series against St. Louis having lost three of its past four games after winning four of their previous five games. The National League Central-leading Cubs have struggled to keep their opponents from scoring of late, allowing 31 runs in their past three losses and 38 in their past four games overall.
Right-hander Ben Brown (4-5, 5.57 ERA) will be on the mound to open the series for his first career appearance against St. Louis.
The Cardinals will be looking to inch closer to their longtime rivals in the standings in the first meeting between the two this season. They sit 4 1/2 games in back of the Cubs in the National League Central.
“Obviously, we know that (the Cubs) have been playing good ball and that’s a team in our division that we’re looking to catch up to,” outfielder Lars Nootbaar said. “Any time you play the Cubs, it’s always a fun series, and when the stakes are a little higher, there’s probably a little more intensity with it.”
St. Louis saw its five-game winning streak snapped Sunday with a 4-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
The Cardinals, however, are happy to have that first matchup come in the comforts of home at Busch Stadium, where they are 24-15 so far.
“Our (offensive) production has actually been higher at Busch than on the road,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “I think part of it is that we have the mentality of collecting hits. It doesn’t mean that we won’t hit homers or doubles, but we do have to play to our strengths, and we have guys who can hit.”
Left-hander Matthew Liberatore (4-6, 4.08 ERA) is expected to start for the hosts. He is 0-1 with a 4.38 ERA in eight career appearances (two starts) against the Cubs.