Game Recap: Tucker blasts two homers as Cubs cruise past Angels

Jonathan Hui - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 5 hours ago

CHICAGO - No one is going to tell you that one player can make or break a baseball team. However, one player can bring out the best in a team, and when it comes to the Chicago Cubs (75-55), that player is Kyle Tucker, who finally seems to be turning the corner after a nearly two-month slump. When you look at the Cubs' season, they had the best offense in baseball during the first three months and have had the worst offense in baseball over the past month.

A big reason for that was Tucker, as he has been stuck in the middle of the worst slump of his career. When Tucker hits, everyone seems to follow as the Cubs need him to be at the top of his game to have any shot at a deep playoff run. Struggles aside, it does appear that Tucker is starting to heat up at the right time as he picked up three hits against the Los Angeles Angels (61-68) on Saturday, two of which were home runs as the Cubs cruised past the Angels 12-1.

It was the first multi-homer game of his Cubs career, believe it or not, and this was a game the Cubs desperately needed from him as their struggling hitters seem to be coming back to life. After leaving his last start with a blister, Cade Horton was back on the mound for the Cubs and picked up right where he left off.

The right-hander was as dominant as the Cubs have seen him this season, scattering three hits across six shutout innings, walking one, and striking out seven to improve to 8-4. His ERA also fell to 2.88 as he is starting to prove he has the potential to be the ace for this team. Facing off against Victor Mederos, the Cubs' offense took a little bit to settle in, as a second-inning Pete Crow-Armstrong single was the only baserunner they had entering the third.

Once the third inning rolled around, it was the beginning of the end for Mederos, who allowed six runs over the next two innings to put the Angels in a massive 6-0 hole. The top of the Cubs lineup got the scoring started in the third with Michael Busch lacing a two-out double to keep the inning alive, only to have Tucker follow suit with his first homer of the night to give the Cubs an early 2-0 lead.

Despite that homer going down as the game winner when you look at the final score, the big blow of the game came in the fourth and it came from one of the Cubs unsung heros this season. Following a pair of walks from Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner, Chicago loaded the bases with one out as Dansby Swanson took one for the team.

These are the situations that the Cubs have struggled in all season, but not on this day as Reese McGuire unloaded for a massive Grand Slam that opened up a 6-0 Cubs lead. That was all Horton would need in this one, as the Angels had no answers for him through four innings, only to show signs of life in the fifth with Jo Adell and Luis Rengifo connecting for a pair of singles to give the Angels their best scoring chance of the day.

That was about all they could do against Horton as he turned around to allow just one more base runner the rest of the way, closing out another dominating start on the mound. Already with six runs pushed home, the Cubs offense was far from done as they began to tee off on the Angels pen in the sixth. Carson Fulmer was the victim of the Cubs' second four-run inning as Busch got things started in that inning with an RBI single to push the lead to 7-0.

Once again, it was a massive homer that provided most of the damage as Tucker unloaded for his second homer of the game to push the Cubs' lead to 10-0, capping off a five RBI night for the slugger. Two batters into the seventh, and the Cubs were in a position to add on as an Owen Caissie double was followed by the Hoerner single to put runners on the corners with no outs.

Swanson kept the line moving with an RBI double to push the Cubs' lead to 11-0, with McGuire tacking on a sacrifice fly to make this a 12-0 game. That was all for the Cubs and their offense as Ben Brown took over for Horton in the seventh and proceeded to pitch the final three innings for the Cubs.

For the most part, Brown was solid as he has been since moving to the pen, as he gave the Cubs three innings of three-strikeout baseball. His lone blemish came during his first inning of work when he allowed a solo shot from Adell, but that was it as the Cubs dominated the Angels 12-1. With the win, Chicago is now six games behind Milwaukee after falling to the Giants 7-1 on Saturday.