Kris Bryant Makes History in Win Against Reds

Photo Credit: CBS Sports

The Chicago Cubs entered this week looking very un-Cub like. After being swept by the hated St. Louis Cardinals, the Northsiders came up short in the following series against the Marlins. They had lost 6 of their last 7 games, and as the woes continued, many of the die-hard fans began to worry; talks of billy goats and Bartman filled the calls on local radio stations. However, last night would prove to be yet another reason for fans of the Cubs breathe.

The Cubs have had a lot of recent success against the Cincinnati Reds, taking 3 of the last 4 games the 2 teams played. This gave many fans a reason to be hopeful going into this week. Jake Arrieta took the hill last night and picked up his 12th win of the season for Chicago. That’s important, right? Unfortunately for Arrieta, last night was not a pitchers’ game. When Arrieta pitches, the baseball world seems to stop. Why wouldn’t it? Coming into last night he rocked an 11-1 record and a 2.10 ERA. With only one batter in the Reds line-up batting a .270 average or higher, it had all the making to be yet another dominant showing. Instead, it was a track race paced game in which the score keepers ran out of ink and Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant stole the show. Bryant went off, batting 5-for-5 with 3 homers and 2 doubles. He is the first player in modern baseball history to pull that off. His 5 extra-base hits are the most by any Cub since 1885 . Bryant has 21 homers, 57 runs batted in and leads all NL third basemen in All-Star votes. After winning NL Rookie of the Year honors last season, there does not seem to be any sort of sophomore slump in sight.

Anthony Rizzo joined in and hit a long ball of his own. Arrieta seemed to struggle through the first 5 frames, giving up 5 runs, which is the most by Arrieta this season.  Joey Votto of the Reds hit 2 homers, one of which was off Arrieta, but it wouldn’t be enough. The Cubs picked up the 11-8 win and improved to 49-26 on the season. They also have a massive 10-game lead on St Louis in the NL Central. The Cubs wrap up this 3-game series with the Reds on Wednesday, then will head to Citi Field to take on the New York Mets in a rematch of last season’s NLCS.

-Ian Blum