The Chicago Cubs opened up their three-game series at home versus the Oakland Athletics with a 9-2 win on Monday night. The Cubs attacked Oakland starter Joey Estes from the get-go, plating six runs on nine hits in one-plus inning off the right-hander. The early damage continued for Craig Counsell’s crew, as they tallied all nine of their runs in the first four innings of play, coasting to the easy victory.
The offensive explosion made Shota Imanaga’s job on the mound a lot easier. The rookie southpaw worked six innings and struck out eleven while only surrendering two runs before handing the game over to the Chicago bullpen. Imanaga received his 14th win of the season against just three losses. The win keeps the Chicago Cubs in the NL Wild Card, however slim their odds are, and sets up more meaningful baseball for the Cubs in the rest of the series.
Chicago Cubs Pounce on A’s
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The Chicago Cubs kept their slim hopes of a playoff berth in 2024 alive with a resounding win Monday night over the Oakland Athletics. The Chicago hitters left no doubt about the outcome in this one, pouncing on the Oakland pitching staff for nine runs in the first four innings, including a three-run shot by a surging Dansby Swanson. Athletics starter Joey Estes could only record three outs in this one, being chased from the ball game after the Swanson home run and putting the A’s in a hole they wouldn’t climb out of.
If there was any chance Oakland was going to make it a competitive game Shota Imanaga shut the door on that possibility. Imanaga struck out 11 A’s across six innings of work, only allowing a Brent Rooker two-run home run after being squeezed on a walk the hitter before. Imanaga left the game with the lead firmly intact and Craig Counsell able to go comfortably into the bullpen, tapping Trey Wingenter and Jack Neely to cover the final three innings of action.
The Swanson home run was the only long ball of the night for the Chicago Cubs. The offense was driven by slapping the ball all over the yard and their hits finding green grass to drop in and gaps in the infield to go through. The Chicago Cubs rattled off 18 hits for the entire ball game, with eight hitters registering hits and three hitters having three-hit ball games. The standout performance from Dansby Swanson comes as he gains more confidence in himself and from his manager, Craig Counsell, who escalated Swanson to second in the order for this game, something the first-year manager has been more willing to do down the stretch of the season.
Swanson and the rest of the Chicago Cubs offense will look to replicate their output from Monday night’s game for the rest of this series and the regular season, as their slight chances of catching the two NL East teams battling for the final Wild Card spot ride on it. After play ended today, the Cubs find themselves 77-73, four games behind the Atlanta Braves and five games behind the New York Mets in the race for October baseball.
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