The Chicago Cubs boast a pair of 10-game winning streaks during a 23-game span this season.
Fresh off opening a nine-game road trip with a lopsided victory, the Cubs will bid to push their current run to a season-high 11 straight wins on Saturday night when they face the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas.
Michael Busch continued his torrid stretch by ripping a three-run double in the seventh inning on Friday, lifting Chicago to its 10th straight win with a 7-1 victory over Texas.
The Cubs also won 10 games in a row from April 14-24.
Busch is batting a blistering .340 with six doubles over his past 14 games. But he’s not alone, and he knows it.
“We just have a lot of guys who are super-consistent,” Busch told the Marquee Sports Network. “(They) know whether it’s going really good or not so good. They just show up the next day and compete. They know what they need and just do it.”
Seiya Suzuki returned from a day off of rest and belted a two-run homer on Friday for the Cubs. Pete Crow-Armstrong had an RBI double in the sixth inning among his two hits. He is riding a six-game hitting streak. And Ian Happ had an RBI single in the first inning to extend his on-base streak to 29 games.
The production at the plate and the strength of the defense are invaluable to the pitching staff, right-hander Ben Brown said.
“Our pitching staff is just better because our defense is so good,” he told the Marquee Sports Network. “Our pitching staff can breathe a little bit because our offense is playing so well. Our pitching staff is incredibly deep because our coaches are so solid.”
Unfortunately for the reeling Rangers, they aren’t receiving much at the plate. Texas mustered just two hits on Friday and has only just 28 runs while losing eight of its past 11 games.
The Rangers will look to ignite their offense on Saturday when they face Chicago’s Edward Cabrera (3-0, 3.27 ERA). Fellow right-hander Jack Leiter (1-3, 5.45) will get the nod for Texas.
Cabrera has struggled with the home run ball of late, as he was taken deep twice on Monday in a no-decision in a 5-4 win against the Cincinnati Reds. He has allowed five homers in his past three trips to the mound after keeping the ball in the park in his previous four outings.
Cabrera, 28, has been consistent, however. He has worked at least five innings in all seven starts this season.
Leiter, 26, started strong in his most recent outing against the Detroit Tigers, taking a perfect game into the fifth inning before the bottom fell out.
Although Leiter matched a career high with 10 strikeouts, he dropped to 0-3 with a 6.67 ERA in his past five outings after permitting five runs on as many hits in 6 2/3 innings of a 7-1 setback to the Tigers last Sunday.
“(The pitching line) doesn’t give Jack justice for how he really pitched,” Texas manager Skip Schumaker said.
Well, that may be true in his last outing. However, he has yielded 21 runs (20 earned) and six homers during his last five trips to the mound (27 innings).
“It’s frustrating, yeah,” Leiter said of his recent troubles.
Both Cabrera and Leiter will face the opposition for the first time in their careers.
–Field Level Media
