PHILADELPHIA -- Ian Happ had his history against Phillies righty Taijuan Walker in mind when stepping into the batter’s box in the sixth inning on Tuesday night. Walker had used a mix of sinkers and cutters to handcuff the Cubs’ left fielder in the past, so Happ narrowed his focus to one section of the strike zone.
With Walker’s sinker in mind -- a pitch that can start at a left-handed batter before zipping back to the inside corner -- Happ readied his swing when the reliever fired a 1-1 pitch. What arrived instead was the cutter. It veered inside and out of the zone, but Happ pulled his hands in and got the barrel to the ball, sending a home run to the right-field stands.
“That was just a reaction,” Happ said after the Cubs’ 8-4 win at Citizens Bank Park. “It’s one that almost surprises you.”
That shot that curled inside the fair pole was Happ’s second home run of the game, marking his first multihomer performance of the season. It was also one of four blasts for the Cubs, who again had a standout showing from the bullpen (4 2/3 scoreless innings) to halt the team’s modest two-game losing skid.
Happ had never gone deep against the veteran Walker, who had limited Happ to a 2-for-14 (.143 average) with six strikeouts in their previous meetings. This time around, Happ’s two-run homer was a shot that gave Chicago a 5-4 lead that the club would not relinquish.
“I haven’t had a lot of success against him, to be honest,” Happ said. “I was looking for something kind of in that window and just reacted to the cutter. When I’m in a good spot, some of those things just happen. It’s just reaction to those types of pitches. That one felt really good.”
Happ has been enjoying that type of feeling more of late.
Last week at Nationals Park, Happ launched a home run off Washington’s Jackson Rutledge in a 7-1 win, snapping a drought of 80 plate appearances without a blast that dated back to May 5. It was his second significant outage of the season, following a stretch of 94 consecutive PAs without a homer between March 27-April 18.
Since that blast against the Nationals, Happ has belted four home runs and posted an .800 slugging percentage in his past six games (28 PAs). In his previous 52 games this season, he had just three homers with a .350 SLG across 247 PAs.
“I think we knew this was coming,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I think everybody had a lot of faith that this was coming. And it’s fun to see, because this is what makes a good team. This is what makes a good offense is that Ian can kind of be not clicking, and then he gets clicking and it wins you a game.”
Following that blast in Washington, the switch-hitting Happ crushed his first homer of the season from the right side off Phillies lefty Matt Strahm in the third inning of Monday’s loss. Happ got his night rolling Tuesday by connecting on an elevated curveball from Phillies righty Mick Abel and depositing it into the right-field stands.
Dansby Swanson and Michael Busch also went deep in Tuesday’s win, in which Chicago also had a few smaller plays lead to more runs. One arrived in the sixth, when catcher Reese McGuire hustled up the first-base line, reaching safely to avoid an inning-ending double play. That set the stage for Happ to drill his second homer of the evening.
“It’s a small thing, but it’s everything,” Counsell said.
“In this lineup particularly, if you can extend the inning by one out, we have a chance to score,” Happ said. “And that’s a perfect example.”
Happ’s night also included a pair of walks, which offered an example of why Counsell has kept him in the leadoff spot amid his search for consistent power. Happ’s .345 on-base percentage this year through 58 games is right in line with his career rate (.343).
“That’s the thing that never goes away,” Counsell said, “is the ball-strike [discernment] and the swing decisions. That’s the on-base stuff, getting on base ahead of three guys having wonderful seasons. That’s always been there.
“And when you add power, it just makes the lineup and the pitching decision for the other guy and the matchups for the other team really difficult.”