Victorious Chicago Cubs snap Boston Red Sox’s win streak.
Reporting by Coleman Robbins for SRN
CHICAGO — Two storied franchises met at Wrigley Field as the Cubs, holding the best record in best baseball, cooled off a surging Red Sox team that had arrived on a 10-game winning streak. Chicago took the first two out of three, using dominant starting pitching and power hitting to highlight the differences between the two clubs as the trade deadline looms.
The series opened with Seiya Suzuki’s three-run blast off of Lucas Giolito setting the tone for a 4-1 Cubs win. Suzuki continues to drive Chicago’s offense, prompting manager Craig Counsell to comment postgame, “Put men on base in front of him, and good things seem to happen this year.” Rookie Roman Anthony’s RBI double extended his hitting streak to 10 games, but Boston’s mistakes—including a costly base running blunder by Abraham Toro—snapped their longest win streak since 2018.
Seiya Suzuki, the 2019 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Homerun Derby Champion for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, seen pregame on Saturday chatting with Masataka Yoshida, whom he defeated in the derby (Yoshida played for the Orix Buffaloes).
In anticipation of the Cubs’ southpaw Shota Imanaga (6-3, 2.65 ERA, 48 K), Boston removed Duran, Narvaez, and Abreu in game two; inserting right-handed batters Rob Refsnyder (.274 AVG) and Romy Gonzalez (.326 AVG) who mash lefty pitching—in 2025 against LHP: Refsnyder (.292 AVG, .932 OPS, 14 RBI’s, 4 HR) and Gonzalez ( .406 AVG, 1.201 OPS, 16 RBI’s, 4 HR).
Pregame, Alex Cora commented on Romy and Rob’s dominance of lefty pitching, “Everybody knows it, they’re the best at what they do. They can hit lefties and righties. It just happens on this team that’s what they do and we’re going to use them the right way. Lefty (pitching) today.”
Saturday’s 6-0 Cubs win showcased why Chicago sits atop the NL Central. Shota Imanaga delivered seven scoreless innings, while five different Cubs, including Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong, went deep. Crow-Armstrong’s 26th homer tied Kris Bryant for the most in franchise history by a player 23 or younger. Counsell praised Imanaga’s growth postgame, saying “He got better as the game went and was just excellent.” The Red Sox changes couldn’t propel them to a win (Refsnyder & Gonzalez combined 1-6).
The Red Sox avoided a sweep Sunday with a 6-1 win, powered by Wilyer Abreu’s two homers and a three-run shot from Alex Bregman. Garrett Crochet, who held the Cubs to one run over six innings, kept perspective postgame: “it’s always nice to be playing meaningful baseball this time of year. It’s time to grind.”
The Cubs threatened in the fifth, loading the bases with two outs. But Crochet escaped the inning getting Carson Kelly to ground into a fielder’s choice. The Cubs wasted a strong performance from Cade Horton (5 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, and 4 K’s), scoring their only run on an RBI single by Ian Happ in the second.
Across the three games, Chicago’s starters—Colin Rea, Shota Imanaga, and Cade Horton—combined for 17 ⅔ innings with just one earned run, while Boston managed only a single run in the first 24 innings of the series before breaking through in the finale.
Chicago’s ability to dominate the series boiled down to three things: lockdown starting pitching, timely power, and depth. Rea, Imanaga, and Horton neutralized a Boston lineup that had been red-hot—buying time for the Cubs’ offense to break through with six homers across the first two games. Seiya Suzuki’s consistency kept the pressure on, while emerging stars like Crow-Armstrong and Busch gave Chicago a balanced attack.
Looking forward, the Cubs find themselves in a two team race (Reds 7.5 games back) against the Brewers in the NL Central, the division overall lacks the depth of the AL East, where four teams remain above .500 and routinely square off with playoff-caliber rosters. Chicago’s dominance in the NL Central allows them to line up their rotation and manage bullpen usage more flexibly, something AL East contenders like Boston can rarely do given constant divisional dogfights.
Boston finally cracked Chicago’s pitching in the Sunday matchup by leaning on the long ball and Crochet’s poise on the bump. Abreu and Bregman combined for three homers, while Crochet’s ability to escape a fifth-inning jam shifted momentum. The Red Sox played clean baseball—no running gaffes or defensive miscues—and finally got timely hits that eluded them in the first two games.
The Cubs (59-40) maintain their NL-best mark, while the Red Sox (54-47) head into a rough stretch chasing the AL East leaders. Both clubs face pivotal series this week—just ten days before the trade deadline—Chicago hosts the Royals while Boston travels to Philidelphia—as the deadline draws near, “grind time” begins.
tags Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, Craig Counsell, Alex Cora, Seiya Suzuki
