Hoerner does heavy lifting for Cubs, and nears individual glory

CHICAGO -- Nico Hoerner threw his head back and let out a celebratory howl before he even reached second base. As the Cubs’ second baseman stepped onto the bag, the second run had scored on his clutch go-ahead double and the Wrigley Field crowd was roaring with him.

Hoerner’s seventh-inning hit off Rays reliever Edwin Uceta sparked a 4-3 win for the Cubs, who picked up the series victory in the process. In front of a packed house and with the countdown to a spot in the postseason underway, Hoerner could not help but let his emotions fly when he delivered for Chicago.

“Just a big moment. Swing a game,” Hoerner said. “Definitely one of the bigger swings of the year for me, personally. It just felt like it was a moment to seize, to win the final game of the series. Happy flight. All that good stuff. It matters.

“This group has done a lot throughout the year to put us in a strong place. And I think, regardless of standings, finishing with positive energy and excitement and doing that at home is a big deal.”

The Cubs packed their bags and headed off to their final regular-season road trip -- a seven-game swing through Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. There are six home games left on the other side, against the Mets and Cardinals, and the North Siders might at least punch their ticket to October before that homestand.

With the win over the Rays, the Cubs pulled within 5 1/2 games of the first-place Brewers in the National League Central with 13 games left on the ledger. Chicago remains in command of the NL’s top Wild Card spot, which would mean the North Siders would host their series in the first round of the postseason.

Hoerner was a part of the last Cubs team to make the playoffs in the abbreviated 2020 season, but he did not play in either playoff game and there were no fans in the stands. Five years later, the second baseman is very much looking forward to what could lie ahead.

“I would not be picky about if and when that would happen,” Hoerner said of clinching a playoff spot. “To have been here for a while, to clinch the playoffs and hopefully play at Wrigley would absolutely mean the world.”

While some of Chicago’s other stars have endured second-half lulls in the batter’s box, Hoerner has quietly and steadily been a catalyst for the lineup for several weeks.

After Michael Busch opened the first inning with a double, Hoerner followed with an RBI single to left field. With two outs in the seventh, Hoerner ripped Uceta’s pitch into the left-field corner, plating Willi Castro and Matt Shaw to put the Cubs ahead for good. Those two hits upped Hoerner’s average to .396 (19-for-48) in 12 games in September.

“I don’t know what he’s hitting this month, but it’s felt like a lot,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “There’s a lot of base hits in there. He had two big hits today. Drove in three of the runs today. And just a big swing. A big swing when we needed one.”

That has been a theme for Hoerner, who has a slash line of .362/.418/.457 in 158 plate appearances this season with runners in scoring position. His elite contact rate (89.9% overall and 96.8% on pitches in the zone) and peskiness at the plate play into his success in those moments. (Hoerner’s 14.0 plate appearances per strikeout rank second to Luis Arraez in the Majors.)

“Nico’s awesome,” Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd said earlier this week. “He doesn’t give up an at-bat. I think that’s something that is a quality that is special and extremely unique in this game.”

Over his last 18 games, Hoerner has hit at a .366 clip (26-for-71) with two home runs, nine doubles, one triple, 10 RBIs and 14 runs. It has helped him lift his season average to .299, pulling him within striking distance of the Phillies’ Trea Turner, who is on the injured list but leads the National League with a .305 average. The Cubs have not had a batting champion since 2005 (Derrek Lee).

Would a batting title mean a lot to Hoerner?

“Yeah, of course,” he said. “I don’t think batting average is always the healthiest goal or a thing to prioritize on the day to day, but it is the product of quality at-bats and consistent contact. It would just be a really cool thing along the way, for sure.”

Hoerner is more focused on getting into the postseason.

“We’re not where we want to be in the division right now,” he said. “But it doesn’t change the approach, as far as winning every day and controlling your end of it. And I do think there’s a point of pride in just how many wins you can get on the year.”