The Chicago Cubs will try to win their fourth straight home series when they meet the Detroit Tigers in the second game of a three-game set on Wednesday night.
The Cubs benefited from a dominant pitching performance to post a 3-1 victory in the series opener on Tuesday. Four pitchers combined to record 14 strikeouts, with Detroit’s Javier Baez striking out four times in his return to Wrigley Field after spending most of his first eight seasons with Chicago.
“Javy has had a tough go of it,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, “but he hasn’t let it demoralize him. And he’s always one swing away from doing excellent things on the field.”
Baez, a two-time All-Star with the Cubs, is batting .182 this season.
Spencer Torkelson knows a thing or two about having a tough go of it. The top overall pick of the 2020 MLB Draft was demoted to Triple-A Toledo earlier this season. Recalled Saturday, he’s 6-for-10 with three extra-base hits in the past three games after his 4-for-4 performance on Tuesday.
“You gotta take small wins whenever you can,” Torkelson told Bally Sports Detroit of his recent hot streak, “but now you gotta keep on going.”
Unfortunately for the Tigers, they needed other members of the team to step up on Tuesday. Detroit went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position en route to losing for the second time in its past eight games.
The Tigers will try their luck against Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon (8-7, 3.62 ERA) on Wednesday.
Taillon has struggled on the mound in three of his past four starts. He fell to 1-2 in that stretch after allowing four runs on five hits in six innings of a 6-1 setback to the Cleveland Guardians on Aug. 14.
Taillon, 32, is 1-1 with a 7.53 ERA in three career appearances (all starts) against Detroit.
Cody Bellinger ripped a two-run double in the fifth inning Tuesday to boost his RBI total to five in his past five games. Bellinger, however, lamented a failed opportunity earlier in the game in which he grounded out with two runners aboard.
“Obviously, I was pretty disappointed I wasn’t able to get the job done,” Bellinger said. “I felt decent that at-bat and said I just wanted to make the adjustment. Same situation, man on first and second with one out, so stay within my approach. (Ian) Happ and (Michael Busch) did a great job of getting on again, so I tried to get the job done.”
Dansby Swanson hit a solo homer for just his third hit in his past six games.
Detroit is expected to use an opener before turning the ball over to right-hander Kenta Maeda (2-5, 6.18 ERA) on Wednesday.
Maeda, 36, is 1-1 with a 5.52 ERA in three career appearances (all starts) vs. the Cubs.
Also on Tuesday, the Cubs promoted reliever Jack Neely from Triple-A Iowa and released fellow right-hander Hector Neris after he was designated for assignment.
“We’re at the time of the year,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said, “that we’re just really trying to take a look at different guys in different roles and get some new guys up here. It made sense to bring up Neely and potentially look at some other guys in different roles in the bullpen.”
