Chicago Cubs: Top performers for week of May 3-9

The Chicago Cubs just capped off a 5-1 homestand with a convincing sweep of the reigning World Series-champion Dodgers and taking two-of-three against the Pirates. Monday’s game between the Cubs and Dodgers was rained out, forcing a twin bill on Tuesday, in which Kyle Hendricks went the distance in Game 1.

Los Angeles is still trying to find their footing in the early goings of the 2021 season, but their roster from last season is still relatively intact. And they added Trevor Bauer in the offseason, so taking all three games from them was a monumental point in the Cubs season.

With an off-day on Monday, the Cubs sit with a 17-17 record and 3.5 games back of the first-place St. Louis Cardinals.

Here were the top performers for the Chicago Cubs last week.

1. Joc Pederson

Despite a red-hot Spring Training, Joc Pederson struggled mightily in the first month of the season. He landed on the injured list with left wrist tendinitis, which likely played a role in his struggles. However, over the last seven days, nobody on the Chicago Cubs roster has been hotter than Pederson.

The 29-year-old posted a robust .412 batting average with seven hits and four RBI’s last week. Perhaps his best game of the season, Pederson went 3-for-4 with an RBI in Friday’s opener against the Pirates.

He had one of the funnier moments this week when he thought he hit the walk-off home run against his former team. Instead, the ball was caught on the warning track, but his sacrifice fly tied the game in the bottom of the 10th inning on Wednesday.