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After blowing the Pittsburgh Pirates out of the water, the bats are hot and the Chicago Cubs are looking to pave the road to the postseason.
On Monday night, the second to last Monday of the 2019 regular season, the Chicago Cubs reigned victorious over their division rival, Cincinnati Reds, winning by a score of 8-2. This stellar win, all thanks to the bullpen, kept the Cubs winning streak going marking their fifth straight win. The team plays two more games against the Reds at Wrigley, which shouldn’t be too challenging.
However, the Reds have Sonny Grey on the mound Tuesday night who will be going up against righty Yu Darvish. Grey is 10-7 with a 2.80 ERA while Darvish is 6-6 with a 3.97 ERA. It is vital that the bats come alive for the Cubs tonight, especially that of Willson Contreras.
Contreras is a valuable bat for the Cubs, slashing .282/.369/.552 this season. The Cubs really felt the absence of Contreras when he was out with a hamstring injury from Aug. 4 to Sept. 3. During that stretch, the Cubs only won 14 of their last 26. Without Contreras, the Cubs offense was too inconsistent.
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Contreras’ return stabilized the Cubs’ offense which was clear in last Friday’s victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs absolutely crushed the Pirates in all three games of the series.
On Friday, the Cubs beat the Pirates 17-8, much in part thanks to Contreras. In that game, Contrares went 3-for-4 hitting two solo home runs, and scored on a walk. These two homers brought the 27-year-old to a career high of 23 home runs on the season.
Last Saturday the Cubs crushed the Pirates once again, but this time by a score of 14-1. To end the series on Sunday, the Cubs swept the Pirates this time winning by a score of 16-6. The ball club gained three wins and racked up a remarkable 47 runs. The Cubs fell just one run short the club record for the most runs scored in a single three-game series, which remains at 48 runs.
The Cubs scored 47 runs without two of their key offensive guys on the field, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez both due to injuries.Unfortunately, Anthony Rizzo left Sunday’s game with an injury, which put a damper on the Cubs’ offense. Yet they finished Sunday’s contest with 16 runs anyway.
With 12 games left in the remainder of the regular season, it’s crunch time. Thankfully, the remainder of their schedule isn’t too difficult, except for seven of the games left to be played against the St. Louis Cardinals. If the bats stay hot and bats like Contreras remain prevalent, the Cubs will find themselves in the midst of a postseason run.