Michael Busch came back to Great American Ball Park on Saturday with the previous night still fresh: his attempt to steal second had ended the Cubs’ loss. By the sixth inning, he had given Chicago the swing it needed, driving Nick Lodolo’s first pitch over the wall in right field to snap a 2-2 tie and send the Cubs toward a 5-2 win over the Reds.
The homer was Busch’s 20th of the season, a clean answer after Friday’s frustrating finish and the decisive blow in a game Chicago needed to have. Nico Hoerner added an RBI single in the eighth against Reds right-hander Pierce Johnson, and Dansby Swanson supplied the final margin with a ninth-inning solo shot off Zach McCambley.
Chicago’s 86th victory, against 69 losses, moved the club one game ahead of Philadelphia for the National League’s top Wild Card position after the Phillies fell 10-3 to the Mets at Citi Field. The Padres, at 85-69 and a half-game behind the Cubs, were scheduled to play Miami later Saturday in San Diego.
The Cubs can secure a postseason place Sunday if they beat Cincinnati again and Arizona loses to the Yankees.
Boyd finds a better script in Cincinnati
Matthew Boyd picked an especially good day to erase some bad history at this ballpark. Entering the start, the Cubs left-hander had been tagged for 22 earned runs in 23 1/3 career innings at Great American Ball Park. This time, he worked five innings, allowed two runs—only one earned—and gave up two hits while collecting his ninth win.
Boyd was in command early, retiring 12 of his first 13 batters. The Reds finally created a problem after a leadoff walk in the fifth, scoring twice in the inning. Ke’Bryan Hayes delivered the key hit with an RBI single, but Cincinnati could not carry that momentum beyond the 2-2 score.
Busch made sure of that in the next half-inning. The Cubs took the lead, added on late, and left Cincinnati with a win that put their October path a little more firmly in their own hands.
