Game Recap: Cubs blast four homers in win over Nationals

Kamil Krzaczynski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 4 hours ago

CHICAGO - It has been a long time since the wind has been blowing out at Wrigley Field, as this season has been an offensive struggle. That changed on Friday afternoon, as the unseasonably cold weather was accompanied by the howling wind in what had the makings of being an offensive slugfest between the Chicago Cubs (81-60) and the Washington Nationals (56-84).

There were times when that was the case, as each team had a big inning to get the offense rolling; this was the kind of weather the Cubs and this offense had been waiting for. Even with things getting a bit dicey in the middle innings, it was the Cubs doing what they had to do in order to get a win as they delivered an 11-5 victory to open another series.

Javier Assad benefited from the offensive onslaught as he earned his second win of the campaign. Through five innings, Assad was about as good as he has been all season, allowing just one two-run homer up to that point before running out of gas in the sixth. Still, with 5 1/3 innings of four-run, four-strikeout ball, Assad did what he had to do to get a win for his team.

Jake Irving, on the other hand, had a rough go of things as he failed to make it out of the fourth and was charged with seven runs in only 3 1/3 innings. Most of those runs came as part of the Cubs' five-run first inning as Chicago opened up a quick 5-0 lead and never looked back. Ian Happ started the big inning with a one-out walk before moving up to third on the Seiya Suzuki single.

After the Pete Crow-Armstrong sacrifice fly put the Cubs on the board, Nico Hoerner benefited from a wind-aided double, bringing home another run to push the lead to 2-0. However, the big blow in the inning came off the bat of Dansby Swanson, who continued his impressive second-half resurgence with a three-run shot that pushed the Cubs' lead to 5-0.

That was just the first of four long balls for the Cubs as Reese McGuire added a solo shot to begin the second, pushing the Cubs' lead to 6-0. Little did the Cubs know that Homer would go down as the game-winning run as Assad was dialed in early on. Through 3 2/3 innings, Assad allowed just one base runner, and it didn't even come off a hit.

All that changed when Crow-Armstrong lost the Daylen Lile fly ball in the sun, which resulted in a two-out triple to set the Nationals up for the first time. A few pitches later, and this was a 6-2 game as Luis Garcia connected for a two-run shot to put an end to the Cubs' shutout hopes.

Not to be outdone in their half of the fourth, Happ and the Cubs continued to keep the pressure on as a pair of walks mixed with a Crow-Armstrong single loaded the bases for the third time in the game. Unlike the previous time when the Cubs left the bases loaded, Willy Castro came through with a massive opposite-field, bouncing it over the side wall for a ground-rule double to push the Cubs' lead to 8-2.

This is when things began to get interesting, as it showed a classic case of how quickly things can change when the momentum starts to shift. What began with a one-out walk to CJ Abrams was followed by the Josh Bell single, and just like that, Assad was out of the game as Craig Counsell made the move for his lefty Caleb Thielbar.

One of the many unsung heroes for the team this season, there is no doubt that the Cubs would be in the position they are in without him, as he has been outstanding. Friday wasn't his best effort as he promptly allowed a two-run triple to Lile to pull the Nationals within 8-4, only to have Garcia connect for a sacrifice fly, to make things 8-5.

Thielbar managed to get out of the sixth without further damage, with three runs already across, this game was far from over, especially when you consider the win was blowing out. Immediately after allowing the Nationals to climb back into the game, it was the Cubs' offense coming through in a big way yet again as they looked to deliver the knockout blow.

Once again, it was Happ starting things off with a leadoff walk before advancing to third on a stolen base and a groundball from Seiya Suzuki. That proved crucial with Crow-Armstrong adding his second sacrifice fly shortly after as the Cubs got one of those runs back. After taking the past three days off for what Counsell called a mental reset, Crow-Armstrong showed up in a big way, collecting two hits and driving in two off a pair of sacrifice flies as this was the game he was waiting for.

Chicago managed to tack on two more runs off a pair of solo shots from Nico Hoerner and Happ to create some distance from Washington as they took an 11-5 lead into the later innings. That is how things would end as Andrew Kittredge, Taylor Rogers, and Porter Hodge took care of the rest to give the Cubs another win, 11-5.