DETROIT — The language barrier between Seiya Suzuki and his teammates disappears on days like Saturday at Comerica Park, where the Japanese slugger hit two home runs to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 6-1 win over the Detroit Tigers.
No interpretation was necessary in the Cubs dugout after five home run celebrations.
“Happiness after home runs — that’s great and universal,” Pete Crow-Armstrong said.
Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch and Matt Shaw added to the home run barrage as the Cubs evened the series before a second straight sellout of 41,084, which included thousands of road-tripping Cubs fans. They managed only seven hits on the day, including an infield hit by Nico Hoerner, but made all of them count.
“We hit some homers today and didn’t do much else,” manager Craig Counsell said. “But homers are good. You get five homers, that’s a pretty good day.”
A quick fact-check confirmed Counsell’s statement: Home runs are good.
So is dominant starting pitching, and Jameson Taillon threw seven strong innings, allowing one run on three hits while improving to 6-3 with his fourth straight win. The Cubs have not lost two straight games since a three-game skid on May 6-9 against the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.
“We make ourselves a tough beat, and I think we’ve done that pretty darn regularly,” Counsell said. “And that’s going to put you on top a good amount of the time.”
The Cubs are 18-7 over their last 25 games, the best record in the majors in that span, and go for the series win Sunday with rookie Cade Horton facing Jack Flaherty.
Suzuki started the Cubs off with a solo home run in the first off left-hander Tyler Holton, the Tigers opener. Busch added a two-run shot off Keider Montero in the fifth, his 10th of the season, giving the Cubs five players with 10 or more home runs in only 64 games. The Cubs led 3-1 in the seventh when Crow-Armstrong cranked his 17th and Shaw hit his second. Suzuki added his second of the game off Chase Lee in the eighth.
The competition between Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong has been an interesting sidebar to a season in which both could be headed to the All-Star Game. Suzuki took the RBI lead 55-54 on Saturday, but Crow-Armstrong remains ahead 17-16 in their home run battle.
“Pete was saying he was the power leader of the team,” Suzuki said through an interpreter.
Crow-Armstrong countered that Suzuki challenged him after his first home run.
“I let him know today that he had to hit two, and I’ve still got him, so …” Crow-Armstrong said. “Seiya says when he hits a home run, I have to as well. If that turns into real motivation, it’s great.”
Suzuki said Crow-Armstrong likes to pat him on the head, then added it’s obvious who has the most power of the two “if you look at his body.” He likes to consider their relationship like an adult and a child.
“Everything Pete does is like a little kid, so Pete is like my little brother,” he said.
Crow-Armstrong strongly disagreed.
“That’s up for debate,” he said. “We can work that out behind closed doors.”
The win was big after Friday’s 3-1 loss, in which a poor decision by third-base coach Quintin Berry to send Crow-Armstrong home in a scoreless game against Tarik Skubal backfired. Berry quickly changed his mind and held Crow-Armstrong up at third, leading to Crow-Armstrong being tagged out and squelching a potential rally against the game’s best pitcher.
It was a pivotal play and a tough loss that could’ve lingered had the Cubs let it.
“It was a unique play, the way it went down,” Counsell said Saturday. “Pete is a unique runner. So I think you talk about it, you learn from it and it helps you get better the next time.”
The Cubs responded with a well-played game and got another huge performance from Taillon, the leader of a rotation that has endured a few bumps but has been fairly consistent since Shota Imanaga was sidelined on May 5 with a hamstring strain.
Matthew Boyd has a 3.01 ERA this season and 40 strikeouts to only three walks over his last six starts. Colin Rea rebounded in Washington from back-to-back subpar outings against the Cincinnati Reds and has allowed two or fewer runs in seven of his 10 starts.
The Cubs have won in all of Horton’s five appearances, including his debut in New York that included an opener. Ben Brown threw seven strong innings Friday in a tense duel with Skubal and has turned in his best two outings since Counsell used an opener for him last week at Wrigley Field.
Taillon has morphed into the Cubs ace since the injury to Imanaga, who threw a bullpen Saturday at the team’s complex in Mesa, Ariz. Imanaga will pitch in a game setting Monday in Arizona in hopes of returning later this month.
The arrow is pointing up for the Cubs, who beat up on bad teams the last three weeks and have played well against baseball’s best team in Detroit. Taillon said the atmosphere the last two days at Comerica has been something to see, though he pointed to the calendar in an effort to curb Cubs fans’ enthusiasm.
“Obviously I’ve played in Detroit a lot and I’ve never seen the stadium like this with this kind of energy, which is really cool,” Taillon said. “In that sense it’s cool that it’s two great teams going up against each other. But it’s also June.
“Every series does count the same, but it’s been a fun environment. It was a beautiful day at the park today. It was popping.”
And when it’s popping, the Cubs come ready to bop.
