CHICAGO -- Matthew Boyd gave a small pump of his fist and a quick pound of his glove as he started walking off the field in the fifth inning.
Dansby Swanson had just caught a one-out, bases-loaded line drive up the middle and dove to tag the runner sliding back into second. The initial call was safe, but Swanson immediately signaled to the dugout to challenge it. Cubs manager Craig Counsell asked to go to replay and the call was overturned, stranding the Royals’ baserunners.
Perhaps the need for a review took some of the wind out of the celebration. Maybe that’s why Boyd had a more reserved reaction when the double play became official.
Nonetheless, in arguably the biggest moment of Chicago’s 6-0 win over Kansas City at Wrigley Field on Tuesday, Boyd was clearly happy to escape the only jam he faced all night.
“That was an amazing play,” he said. “[Swanson] was so good out there. Man, that play was huge at that point in the game.”
“They put together a little rally against Matt,” Counsell said. “Matt made a good pitch, and the hitter made a pretty good swing, actually. Fortunately, it was at somebody. … That was a big play in the game, for sure, and just getting Matt out of that inning was a big deal.”
Coming off his first All-Star nod in his 11th season, the 34-year-old Boyd seemed to pick up right where he left off to begin the second half, retiring the first 11 hitters he faced on just 45 pitches. He walked the Royals’ 12th hitter to allow his first baserunner, but he only needed one more pitch to get out of the fourth unscathed.
Boyd pitched to a stellar 2.34 ERA before the All-Star break and has been a model of consistency for the Cubs this season. However, he constantly praises the people around him as big contributors to his success. He did it again postgame Tuesday, when he specifically shouted out Carson Kelly’s game-calling and the defense behind him.
It’s a good thing the “people around him” includes Swanson, whose heads-up double play helped Boyd keep Kansas City off the board in the fifth.
“It could've been a tipping point, and he continues to make great plays when the game's on the line,” Boyd said. “This is why he is who he is, right? He's kind of the heartbeat with this ballclub, and it's pretty cool to see him do those things.”
Boyd rolled on for the rest of his night, completing seven scoreless innings -- fittingly finishing with a more demonstrative fist pump as he jumped off the mound in the seventh than two innings prior.
Boyd’s performance Tuesday was a continuation of an excellent run for the southpaw. His ERA is down to 2.20 (second-lowest in the NL, fourth-lowest in MLB), and he’s one of four pitchers in the Majors with at least 11 wins.
It seems like he’s gotten better as the year has gone on, too. He’s now on a run of 23 straight scoreless innings dating back to July 1. He’s given up no runs in four of his last five starts, and he’s given up two runs or fewer in 10 straight.
“It's just quality pitch after quality pitch,” Counsell said. “I think anytime you get in a streak like this, that's what you're doing. There's no let up, no matter what's going on.”
Boyd went a full nine days of rest in between starts -- he didn’t appear in the All-Star Game -- getting a little extra rest to begin the second half. He noted the lack of natural breaks in the season and the group “taking advantage of it when it was there.”
With Justin Steele’s last pitch of 2025 coming April 7, Shota Imanaga missing most of May and June, Javier Assad not yet pitching this season and Jameson Taillon currently on the shelf, injuries have hit the Cubs’ rotation hard.
Boyd has been the biggest constant, both in terms of making his starts and then producing when he’s on the mound. The extra rest could help him continue to do that.
And that would be huge for Chicago, since Boyd’s strong outing Tuesday was just another reminder of how important he’ll be down the stretch.
“He's got so many different ways to get you out,” Swanson said, “and the ball moves in so many different directions that it constantly is keeping guys off balance. He's executing pitches. They're not necessarily over the middle of the plate. Yeah, he's just been awesome.”