Slump buster? Michael Busch helps deliver much-needed win
Matt Marton-Imagn Images After Saturday’s extra-inning loss to the Pirates, in which the Cubs were once again held back by an offense that couldn’t get the timely hit, they vowed that things were going to take a turn for the better at the plate . Until the eighth inning on Sunday, it didn’t look like that was going to happen just yet. But when Michael Busch pinch-hit for Matt Shaw with two runners on base, he delivered a game-tying, two-run single that erased the 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position the Cubs had posted for the day.
It takes a lot more than one base hit to win a game like Sunday’s — the Cubs were down 5-0 after the second inning and had to chip away at the Pirates’ lead to eventually win 7-6 on Carson Kelly’s walk-off single in the ninth — but Busch’s moment in the eighth inning could mark a turnaround point not only for him but for the team as a whole. Busch was out of the lineup on Sunday, taking a day off to give him a mental break from the grind of an 0-for-30 slump he’d been mired in since April 1. Coming through with two runners on late in a close game won’t necessarily snap that slump by itself, but it’s certainly a relief for a guy who’s been grinding at the plate.
“The thing I remind myself a lot is no matter the ups, no matter the downs, you just keep working, keep focusing on things that you want to focus on when it comes to either your swing or defensively, or your approach,” Busch said. “Holding strong to some of those things, and just kind of keep putting one foot in front of the other. ” Again, there are a lot of things that go into winning after being down by five runs so early in the game, like Swanson’s savvy baserunning in the seventh and eighth innings, Michael Conforto leading off the ninth with a pinch-hit double, the bullpen coming together to throw three scoreless innings, and Jameson Taillon finding a way to go six frames despite getting battered by the longball early.
All of that makes a game-tying pinch hit single like Busch’s possible. There’s the individual execution in the right moments, as well as a general spirit of positive expectation, no matter what. Taillon said the attitude in the Cubs’ dugout even after they were down 5-0 in the second was that it was still a game they would win.
“Our position players stayed really, really engaged,” he said. “All game they were just super into it, so they were encouraging me the entire time, and every time I’d come off the field, they were like, stay right there, keep us there. “So in a weird way, it felt like a game we were going to win and come back from.
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