Chicago Cubs: Top 5 wins of the 2018 regular season

Chicago Cubs 7 – Philadelphia Phillies 5

On a cool June night at Wrigley Field, the Cubbies and Philadelphia Phillies took the field for their second game of the season against each other.

Quintana threw a gem for the Cubs. Although he finished just 5.2 innings, Quintana had the Phillies looking completely mismatched, striking out 10 batters and allowing just two runs.

Facing off against him was the Phillies’ ace and NL Cy Young contender, Aaron Nola. The Cubs fared better than most teams did against Nola, getting eight runners on base and sending three of them across the plate during his six innings on the mound.

A few improbable things happened that night, two of which were the Phillies getting to the Cubs’ relievers. Both Steve Cishek and Morrow gave up their first home runs of the season that night.

The first long ball came off Cishek and tied the game at three runs apiece in the sixth inning. That score remained the same until Morrow was brought in to keep things even in the top of the ninth. Instead, he gave up a two-run shot to unlikely hero Dylan Cozens.

The Cubs entered the bottom of the ninth down 5-3 and with just four hits through the first eight frames.

Three of the first four Chicago batters reached base, loading it up with just one out. Zobrist seemed like the Cubs’ best chance left, but he grounded into a fielders’ choice, keeping the bags loaded, but putting the Cubs just an out away from defeat.

Up next was Heyward – the Cubs’ last hope – to face off against lefty Adam Morgan. Entering the game, Heyward was batting .264/.331/.378 on the season. He was awful against left-handed pitchers, posting a measly .587 OPS against them during his time in Chicago.

On the fifth pitch of the at bat, the third improbable thing of the night happened. With a 2-2 count, Heyward turned on a 97-mile-per-hour fastball left over the heart of the plate, putting it 10 rows up the bleachers in the right field stands.

The walk-off slam was Heyward’s third career grand slam and first career walk-off homer. That seemed to be a turning point for Heyward. His numbers didn’t dramatically improve, but from that point on his offensive production was certainly better.

Heyward’s big fly was the Cubs’ first walk-off win of the season. The great start from Quintana, the comeback from giving up a lead, and the unlikely scenario of Heyward being the hero of the game combined to make this the Cubs’ best win of the regular season.