ANAHEIM, Calif. – It was a swing more than a month in the making, a catalyst for a dramatic turnaround and possibly the antidote to an extended offensive affliction no one on Chicago’s North Side could have seen coming.
But Kyle Tucker’s first home run in 34 days – in the Cubs’ 3-2 win on Friday over the Angels – wasn’t exactly cathartic.
While his teammates gleefully slapped hands and smacked the visiting dugout railing after he pulled a fastball from Tyler Anderson 405 feet into the seats in right field, it was not until the even-keeled outfielder rounded third on his stoic jaunt that Tucker finally cracked a smile.
“We’ll see how tomorrow goes,” he deadpanned in the aftermath, careful not to make too much of a single performance.
The next day was even better.
On Saturday, Tucker added two more home runs and a double in a 12-1 outburst as part of a weekend sweep that might have given both Tucker and the slumbering Cubs offense the wake-up they needed.
In one auspicious weekend, Tucker totaled two more home runs and as many extra-base hits as he had in his previous 39 games combined.
“I think this was coming,” said Cubs manager Craig Counsell. “This is the nature of the game. We don’t want slumps. We hate slumps. They’re mentally kind of exhausting to go through, but they happen. Kyle will be better moving forward because of this, but it’s part of the game that happens, and you’ve got to get through it.”
If Tucker and the Cubs’ offense can rediscover their dynamism, they’ll look back at this weekend in Anaheim as the breakthrough.
From a narrative perspective, it couldn’t have started more promisingly, with Tucker delivering the initial blow and Pete Crow-Armstrong finishing the series opener with a game-winning, ninth-inning blast that ended a 25-game homerless skid for the 23-year-old All-Star who’s trying to break out of his own second-half funk.
“Without sounding too sour about anything, it’s about time I stepped up in a situation like that,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I’m just processing, and it felt great, but it’s time to start putting up more runs and being a part of that.”
If the Cubs have any hopes of catching the Brewers or going on a deep October run, they need to see more of that from each of their All-Star sluggers.
For months, the Cubs overwhelmed opponents with a distinctive combination of speed and slug. Their deep lineup could hit for both average and power while creating havoc on the basepaths. Through the end of July, the Cubs ranked in the top three in MLB in batting average, home runs and steals.
Embodying those traits were Tucker and Crow-Armstrong, a superstar rental and a rising sensation who are the first pair of Cubs teammates ever to record at least 20 homers and 25 stolen bases in the same season. Most of that production, however, came in the season’s first few months, when each looked like an MVP contender for a Cubs team that led the National League Central from April 4 through the All-Star break.
Now, with FanGraphs giving the Cubs just a 12.9% chance to win the division, they have to be part of the turnaround.
By the end of the first half, Crow-Armstrong had already compiled a 25-25 season while hitting 32% above league average in an All-Star campaign. Tucker, meanwhile, hit 45% above league average in the first half despite playing through what we now know was a fracture in his right hand that he suffered on a slide on June 1.
The severity of the injury, which was initially described as a jammed finger, was kept under wraps until last week. For a while, it was easy to overlook. Tucker tallied a .982 OPS in June — his best month of the season — and was determined to play through the pain, which he figured would eventually subside.
“I don’t know how much it really affected my setup and swing,” Tucker claimed.
Soon, though, fissures started to form in his game. He was still getting on base at a high clip in July, but he stopped driving the baseball with his usual force. His bat speed and hard-hit rate plummeted while his groundball rate soared. He could no longer punish mistakes. The injury might have been healing, but his performance was suffering.
“What he wants to feel, it’s not happening when he gets in the box,” Counsell said.
After the All-Star break, everything started to crater for a Cubs’ lineup that now ranks last in every slash line category in the National League in August. At the heart of their struggles were their two most electrifying talents.
Through his first 19 games of the month, Crow-Armstrong was hitting just .154 with no home runs, a slump he attributed mostly to issues with timing and pitch selection. It was a stark contrast from the .265/.302/.544 slash line he had in an electric first half.
“I feel like I earned the right, mostly for myself, to continue to expect that kind of production from myself, because that’s what I thought I could do,” Crow-Armstrong said. “I definitely have been trying to meet those expectations, but again, that’s the balance, and realizing your job isn’t to do that all the time. It’s about outlasting your own troubles and fatigue and all that comes with the season. It’s just about pushing through that every day.”
Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong had the Cubs humming before the All-Star Break. (Photo by Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Had Crow-Armstrong been the only struggling talent, it might not have been a problem. But all the regulars the Cubs rely on seem to be mired in a funk at once. Aside from rookie Matt Shaw, who has kept the ship afloat with a .978 OPS in August, every other Cubs batter with at least 30 plate appearances this month is hitting below league average.
But the most impactful struggles lately belong to Tucker and Crow-Armstrong, which made this weekend’s performance (from the former in particular) so encouraging.
Before Tucker’s barrage in Anaheim, he had endured the worst 40-game stretch of his career and watched his OPS drop more than 100 points in the process. Weeks of frustration, poor performance and disguised pain began bubbling to the surface. He slammed his helmet, failed to run out a grounder and on Aug. 17 got booed at home.
That spawned a conversation with Counsell, who decided it was time for Tucker to take a mental reset. In a critical series last week against the first-place Brewers, Tucker sat out both games of a Tuesday doubleheader and another game the next day before returning for the finale.
“I think it was what the person needed,” Counsell said. “You make those decisions, and obviously we’re playing a division rival and big games, and that’s what makes you second-guess yourself from my perspective. But the player needed it, and that’s what you’ve got to go with.”
Kyle Tucker sat out of couple games last week against the first-place Brewers in hopes of a reset. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The hiatus would soon reap a reward.
Tucker, who is trying to focus more on getting into his legs at the plate, finished an auspicious weekend in Anaheim 5-for-12 with four extra-base hits and seven RBIs while helping the Cubs, who’ve now won six of their last seven games as they head to San Francisco, cut the division deficit down to five games.
The performance of their pitching staff, which has the lowest ERA in MLB this month, has helped keep them in contention. Their rookies, from Cade Horton on the mound to Shaw and Owen Caissie at the plate, have given them a vital boost.
But for the Cubs to accomplish what they hope, they know they’ll need their most trusted talents to find their way.
Maybe this weekend was the turning point.
“The game doesn’t grant you any favors,” Counsell said. “You’ve got to do it.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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