Cubs Beat Nationals; Cruise to Seventh Consecutive Series Win
The Chicago Cubs continued their hot streak as they won their seventh consecutive series after a 7-1 victory over the Washington Nationals in the rubber match of a three-game series. Chicago, who was shut out in Wednesday night’s 2-0 loss, made sure to get the bats going early and often as they tallied 15 hits in this game. The Cubs’ offense got off to a blazing hot start in the top of the first inning with a Kyle Tucker double followed up by the red-hot Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 16th homer of the season to make it 2-0 just four batters into the game. Drew Pomeranz made another great opener appearance as he pitched a scoreless bottom half of the first inning before turning it over to Colin Rea.
Chicago took that first-inning momentum and never looked back. They got contributions throughout the lineup as every starter recorded at least one hit. The most encouraging performance of the day for the Cubs came from Ian Happ, who had three hits and four RBIs, including a home run, and he also had an outfield assist, throwing a runner out at second base. Happ has endured his fair share of struggles since coming off the injured list a few weeks ago, but he is seemingly beginning to return to form both in the field and at the plate. On the pitching side, Rea was excellent taking over for the aforementioned Pomeranz, and Rea was in desperate need of a quality outing after getting roughed up by the Reds his last two times out where he gave up a combined 17 hits and 12 earned runs in just over 10 innings pitched in those two starts. Rea threw five and one-third shutout innings while only giving up five hits and one walk.
Catcher Reese McGuire contributed the other Chicago RBI of the evening, not driven in by Crow-Armstrong or Happ, with a single up the middle in the top of the ninth. The lone Nationals tally came in the bottom of the ninth when Luis García Jr. drove in Daylen Lile with a single. The series win for Chicago extends their season-long streak of seven consecutive series wins. This marks a good start to a tough nine-game road trip where they will next travel to Detroit for a three-game weekend series with the Tigers, who currently own the best record in the American League. As for Washington, they will remain at home this weekend as they welcome in the Texas Rangers for a three-game set starting Friday.
