May in Chicago this year will be remembered for a rare dust storm, a gloomy haze from Canadian wildfires and unseasonably chilly temperatures throughout.
But if the Chicago Cubs can get to October, they’ll also remember May as the month when Pete Crow-Armstrong became a bona fide star, the bullpen finally fell into shape and they established an identity as a team that can beat you in a variety of ways.
They did it again Saturday at Wrigley Field, using an opener to great success and capitalizing on a misplay by Cincinnati Reds right fielder Will Benson in a 2-0 win before a nicely chilled crowd of 39,144.
The Cubs have won 14 of 19 and went 18-9 in May, improving to 36-22 on the season.
Ben Brown pitched six scoreless innings, allowing one hit while striking out nine, after opener Drew Pomeranz pitched the first. Pomeranz, Brad Keller and Daniel Palencia combined for three hitless innings on 31 pitches, with Palencia notching his fifth save.
The Cubs have learned to embrace the conditions, with temperatures in the mid-50s Saturday and a northerly wind blowing in from left field at 11 mph.
“What you have to do is — not embrace it — but you have to accept it,” manager Craig Counsell said. “If you fight it, you’re going to have problems.”
That meant Brown being aggressive in the zone, knowing the chances of someone going yard were slim and none. In what could be a season-defining win for him, Brown turned in his best performance as a Cub after working with a mental skills coach to avoid going into panic mode during rough starts to games.
“We can almost date it back to last year, where it was almost waiting for something good to happen in the first inning rather than me being on attack,” Brown said. “It’s up to me to force the hand without overthrowing. It’s an interesting dynamic.”
Photos: Chicago Cubs beat Cincinnati Reds 2-0 at Wrigley Field
And another interesting afternoon in a rare pitchers’ duel.
The game was scoreless in the eighth when the Cubs put two on with one out against reliever Graham Ashcroft. Seiya Suzuki lifted a fly to right that Benson watched drop just inside the foul line near the Marquee Sports Network advertisement, resulting in a run-scoring double.
With no foul territory, Benson had to choose between hitting the brick wall and pulling up to find the wall at the possible expense of losing track of the ball in the sun. He chose self-preservation, and it paid off for the Cubs.
Suzuki told Japanese reporters he knew exactly how Benson felt, having spent most of his Cubs career in right. Left fielder Ian Happ confirmed it’s a tough playing field for anyone.
“Especially at that point of the game, right field is getting the most amount of sun, plus the ball is moving and (the wind is) howling,” Happ said. “Sometimes that ball is going to wind up 30 rows deep in the stands, and sometimes like that, it’s going to stay in. We’re lucky to have a lot of experience out here in dealing with it.”
It was not only great advertising for the Cubs-owned network, but also a shot in the arm for the Cubs offense, which had stranded four runners in scoring position over the first seven innings. After a walk by Carson Kelly and a popout by Crow-Armstrong, Dansby Swanson beat out a grounder to shortstop Elly De La Cruz for an infield hit, bringing home an insurance run.
Swanson, who struck out in his three previous at-bats on “Dansby Swanson wig” giveaway day, joked that he was “running in anger.”
“That’s the way you kind of get it out,” Swanson said. “Not everything is going to go perfect. … There are moments in a season that there are struggles, there’s ups and downs. But effort is always one thing you can consistently give, and it worked out today for us.”
Matt Shaw and Crow-Armstrong confirmed that ethos during one bizarre at-bat by TJ Friedl in the ninth. Shaw fell into the netting on a foul ball and came up with the ball for an apparent catch, only for the video board to show he missed it completely, grabbed it on a bounce and faked everyone out.
Given new life, Friedl lined one to center, only to watch Crow-Armstrong make a sensational diving catch for the second out.
It was that kind of day for the Cubs, and it all started with Counsell opting to use Pomeranz as an opener to try to fix Brown’s first-inning blues. After a perfect first by Pomeranz, Brown entered in the second and dominated. The Reds didn’t register their first hit until Friedl singled with two outs in the sixth.
Did it feel like a no-hitter for Brown?
“Yeah, but that would’ve been asking for too much after those last two outings,” he said with a laugh. “A no-hitter too? I was just thankful to get out there and throw strike one and get through (my) first inning and slowly get my confidence back.”
The Cubs bullpen has an 0.78 ERA over the last 15 games, even as Counsell announced before the game that while Porter Hodge’s left oblique strain is resolved, Hodge since has incurred a left hip impingement that will sideline him longer.
Brown, a starter, added to the bullpen’s upward mobility. He became the third Cubs reliever since 1901 with at least six scoreless innings and nine strikeouts, and he good-naturedly informed reporters that 6% of his pitches were changeups. Brown said the media would “have to figure out something new” to say besides calling him a two-pitch starter.
Now the big question is whether Counsell will use an opener again in Brown’s next outing or take off the training wheels and let him fly on his own.
In a season in which the Cubs have embraced the unknown, June — when the wind typically begins to blow out at Wrigley — should be fun to watch.
