Game Recap: Cubs launch five homers to top Tigers

Rick Osentoski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 9 hours ago

DETROIT - For the second time in as many days, two of the top teams in baseball met in Comerica Park as the Chicago Cubs (40-24) took on the Detroit Tigers (42-24) for game two of their three-game set. When you examine the body of work each team has done this season; there is a reason why both have had some of the best records in baseball, as their hitting, pitching, and baserunning rank near the top in most categories.

Saturday was the Cubs' showcase as they hit five homers, including two from Suzuki, to pick up a secure 6-1 win. Jameson Taillon was the winning pitcher for the Cubs, as he has been on quite a roll lately. The right-hander gave Chicago seven strong innings, allowing one run on three hits with five strikeouts to lower his ERA to 3.54. He is also 6-3 on the season as he leads the Cubs in wins.

With the Tigers electing to go with an opener in Tyler Hotlon getting the start, it was the Cubs who jumped in front immediately as Suzuki connected for his first of two homers in the first to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Considering Taillon scattered just two hits through the first four innings, it was looking as if that lone run was going to be enough, as the Tigers had no answers for the right-hander.

Following the short outing from Holton, AJ Hinch called on Keider Moreno, who did his best to keep things close. Despite striking out four across 5 2/3 innings, Moreno was tagged for four runs, all of which came off the long ball. The first of those came in the bottom of the fifth when Nico Hoerner led things off with a single before coming home on a Michael Busch homer to extend the Cubs lead to 3-0.

It took the Tigers five innings to get to Taillon, and with Zach McKinstry coming away with a one-out triple, the Tigers were in business. McKinstry managed to score on the Jake Rodgers fielder's choice, but with that triple being the final hit of the day off Taillon, the 3-1 score was as close as things would get.

Already with two homers under their belts, the Cubs continued to rely on the long ball in the seventh as Moreno continued to serve up the big fly. After Pete Crow-Armstrong left the building for his 17th homer, Matt Shaw would tack on an additional homer later in the inning as the Cubs opened up a 5-1 lead. For Shaw, this was his first homer since returning from AAA, as he looks like a completely different player.

The Cubs would close out the scoring in the eighth, with Suzuki adding his second homer of the day to make this a 6-1 game as it was time for the Cubs bullpen to take over and finish things off. With Caleb Thilbar on to pitch the eighth, the Tigers offense not only started ot show signs of life, but had by far their best scoring opportunity since the fifth as a pair of singles from Jahmai Jones and Parker Meadows set the offense up.

Thielbar managed to retire the next batter before giving way to Daniel Palencia as the right-hander got Colt Keith to fly out to end the inning. Speaking of Palencia, he has dominated lately since taking over the closer role. However, with the Cubs not having many save chances in recent days, he was on the mound to pitch for the first time in a week.

Anytime a pitcher has that long of a layoff, rust is a concern, and with Palencia allowing a one-out single to Spencer Torkelson in the ninth ahead of walk, you could see some of that rust kicking in. Just as fast as Palencia put himself in a jam, he bailed himself out as he would bounce back to retire the final two hitters to secure the Cubs 6-1 win.

As strong of an offensive game as it was, the Cubs only had six hits in the win, as five of those six hits left the yard. Talk about efficiency from that aspect as Suzuki paced the Cubs with two hits in the victory. The Cubs will look to claim the series on Sunday when they send Cade Horton to the mound against Jack Flaherty and will look for the 10th consecutive series win.