Alex Bregman has been quietly one of the best hitters in baseball for the last month, and Friday night in Seattle he tried to single-handedly will the Cubs to a road win. He got the scoring started early, going deep in the first inning to put Chicago on the board before the Mariners even had a chance to swing.
Bregman sends one out and the west coast Cubbies are up early https://t.co/AP5miIw8FM
Seattle answered fast. Cal Raleigh, the Mariners' switch-hitting catcher who's built a reputation as one of the game's premier power threats, unloaded a three-run shot that turned a tie game into a Mariners lead.
BIG DUMPER GOES BIG FLY! Runs aplenty in Seattle tonight! https://t.co/xl5PIUzFDt
The Cubs kept clawing. Ian Happ chipped away at the deficit with a solo shot in the 8th, his 21st of the year, pulling Chicago back within a run and setting the stage for the ending everyone in the building could feel coming.
Happ with a deeeeep drive to get the Cubs within 1 https://t.co/FyPURCMUO6
Then came the moment. With the Cubs down to their final outs in the 9th, Bregman stepped in against Mariners closer Andres Munoz and did it again, tying the game with his second homer of the night. It doubled as an eerie callback: Bregman went deep off Munoz in the 2022 ALDS while playing for Houston, and Seattle fans in the building clearly remembered.
ALEX BREGMAN TIES THIS ONE UP https://t.co/3BfOKwH7Si
It wasn't enough. The Mariners won it in extra innings on a walk-off single from Leo Rivas, sending the Cubs to a 6-5, 10-inning loss despite going 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position down the stretch. Bregman's two homers and the late heroics were still a moral victory of sorts, just not the kind that shows up in the standings.
The bigger story is what Bregman's been doing since a rough start to his Cubs tenure. He signed a 5-year, $175 million deal with Chicago over the winter and hit just.235 with 7 homers through his first 92 games, drawing boos at Wrigley along the way. Over his last 33 games he's been a completely different hitter, batting.306 with 9 homers and a.962 OPS, and Friday's two-homer night was just the latest reminder that the Cubs are getting exactly what they paid for down the stretch.