CHICAGO -- The Cubs typically fly three sets of flags high atop the old scoreboard at Wrigley Field, displaying the National League standings with a banner for each ballclub. On Saturday afternoon, those flags remained in storage given the ferocity of the day’s wind.
With the temperature scorching and the wind howling out, this was one of those days when the Friendly Confines can morph from a pitchers' haven to a bandbox. The Cubs took advantage by launching five homers -- led by a pair of blasts off the bat of Ian Happ -- to claim a 10-7 win over the Mariners.
“We play in so many different conditions,” Happ said. “We’ve just got to embrace it. We’ve got to embrace the challenges of playing in different conditions. Good one for the hitters today.”
Happ got things rolling for the North Siders in the first inning, when he hammered the first pitch from Seattle’s Emerson Hancock the opposite way for a leadoff homer. It marked the ninth leadoff shot of Happ’s career and made him the first Cubs batter with leadoff homers in back-to-back games since Anthony Rizzo eight years ago.
Kyle Tucker followed Happ with a solo shot to the right-field bleachers, making them just the fifth Cubs duo since 1900 to hit consecutive home runs to begin a game, per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
Does Happ remember the last time it happened for the Cubs?
“It was me and Rizz against Matt Harvey in New York,” he said. “That was a cool one.”
Indeed, the last occurrence happened to be on June 14, 2017, when Rizzo and Happ opened a game against the Mets with back-to-back homers. This was the first instance at Wrigley since Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Theriot achieved the feat on May 13, 2009, against San Diego.
Happ kept his foot on the gas in the second inning with a three-run shot to center off Hancock, giving the Cubs a 6-1 lead out of the chute. That second blast not only marked Happ’s 17th career multihomer showing, but made him the first Cubs hitter since Nick Castellanos (Aug. 30, 2019) to homer in the first two innings of a game.
“We knew this was coming. He’s sitting there with three home runs about 10 days ago,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I don’t want to say it’s expected, but there was a home-run streak coming for him.”
On June 4, when the Cubs were on the road against the Nationals, Happ had just three home runs with a .350 slugging percentage through his first 52 games of the season. It was a surprising outage for Happ, who has topped 20 homers in four seasons, including 25 a year ago.
Since June 5, Happ has since swatted eight in 15 games, posting a .690 slugging percentage in that span.
“I was definitely frustrated,” Happ said. “I just wanted to do more and wanted to help more. But I think I’ve done this long enough that I have confidence that it’s going to show up at some point. Just keep making the right swings.”
Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong got in on the derby next, going deep in the third and fifth inning, respectively, in Saturday’s win. Busch’s three-run homer off Hancock rocketed out with an exit velocity of 111.9 mph, per Statcast, marking the hardest-hit homer of his career. Crow-Armstrong then drove a pitch from Zach Pop out at 110.4 mph to lead off the fifth for his 21st homer of the year.
The outpouring of offense helped back a solid effort by Cubs rookie Cade Horton, whose performance was better than his line. The righty was charged with six runs (three earned) on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, but there was an error behind him and Seattle benefited from three hits that eluded Cubs outfielders due to the conditions.
“I don’t think anybody’s pitching line is relevant today,” Counsell said.
Counsell called reliever Brad Keller “the MVP of the game” for entering with two runners aboard in the sixth and striking out Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh and Jorge Polanco in order to preserve a 10-6 lead at the time. Raleigh later belted a solo blast in the ninth -- his 30th homer of the year -- but the early work by Happ and the Cubs’ offense was enough.
“You knew you were going to have to score some runs to win that game,” Happ said, “just with the nature of the elements.”