The Cubs stranded a season-high 17 runners on base tonight against the Phillies, marking their first win when leaving at least 17 on base since June 2, 2018 and their first win at Wrigley Field since July 3, 2010 (both also had 17 LOB).
This is the Cubs' first winning streak of at least seven games in the month of April since 1989 (also seven).
Nico Hoerner slugs his 4th home run of the season.
He didn't hit his 4th homer last year until July 29 and has recorded a double-digit home run season just once in his career (10 in 2022).
Dansby Swanson ties his career high with a 3-walk game tonight, his first since April 19, 2023.
Michael Busch came into today 3-for-19 with 1 RBI vs. lefties this season. His bloop single to CF with the bases loaded off Phillies lefty Banks brings home two runs to put the Cubs back ahead 3-1 in the 6th.
After Swanson walked to load the bases, Moisés Ballesteros put together a great plate appearance with the bases loaded.
Ballesteros works back from an 0-2 count to force a walk to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead in the 5th over Phillies.
Crow-Armstrong follows with bases-loaded ground out to end inning.
Dansby Swanson has two more walks tonight, bring his BB% to 18.3% this year, which is tied for 8th highest among the 176 qualified MLB hitters.
A look at the adjustments he's made to be more athletic and have some swagger in the batter's box: www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/20/c...
Off the bat, it appeared Bregman connected for 3-run HR but he hit it to deepest part of Wrigley and Phillies' Marsh makes a running catch into the CF wall near the 400 mark.
Bregman's barreled ball had a .680 expected average, 102.3 mph exit velo & would've been HR in 11 other parks via Statcast.
Courtney Vandersloot wants to rebuild a championship culture for the Chicago Sky.
And amid the most uncertain chapter of her lengthy WNBA career, the guard is looking to the past for inspiration.
Talked with Sloot about injury recovery, navigating the fallout with Angel Reese and what comes next:
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Cubs reliever Porter Hodge underwent UCL reconstruction/internal brace surgery yesterday and will be out 12-14 months.
Daniel Palencia had MRI & has mild lat strain. He could throw before the Cubs’ upcoming West Coast trip and could be back in about 2 weeks, Counsell said.
Palencia’s injury was initially classified as an oblique but the MRI clarified the area that was bothering him. Didn’t impact treatment
Hunter Harvey (triceps inflammation) will start a throwing program Friday, but it’ll be a few weeks still until he comes off the IL since he had been fully shut down from throwing, Counsell said.
There was a goose on the field at Wrigley, they played on
Cubs reliever Jacob Webb has embraced being another multi-inning option out of the bullpen plus injury updates on Hunter Harvey, Daniel Palencia and Ethan Roberts: www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/20/c...
Nico Hoerner has delivered 19 of his 21 RBIs out of the leadoff spot this season. Beyond his own knack for hitting with RISP (.346 BA/.905 OPS so far this year), credit is due to Chicago's 7-8-9 hitters. Collectively, they have a .341 OBP -- tied for third-best in MLB for that lineup segment.
Nico Hoerner has been named NL Player of the Week after hitting .346 with two homers, 11 RBIs, a walk, four runs scored, two stolen bases, a .577 slugging percentage & a .357 OBP.
Hoerner’s 10 RBIs in a three-game span made him the first Cub since 1898 to accomplish that feat while hitting leadoff.
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong jumps on a ledge to celebrate with fans after scoring off Nico Hoerner’s walk-off sacrifice fly in the tenth inning to give the Cubs a, 2-1, win over the Mets at Wrigley Field Sunday in Chicago.
Another pitching blow for the Cubs: closer Daniel Palencia has been placed on the 15-day IL with a left oblique strain, retroactive to April 14.
Craig Counsell announced that Cade Horton had UCL revision surgery and the internal brace and will be on a 15-16 month recovery timeline.
Shota Imanaga's 26 whiffs tonight vs. the Phillies are the most by a pitcher in MLB this season.
Imanaga's 26 whiffs also tie Yu Darvish (Aug. 23, 2020) for the most whiffs by a Cubs pitcher in the pitch tracking era (since 2008).
Shota Imanaga has been fantastic tonight vs Phillies
Through 6 IP he's allowed only 1 run, which came on leadoff HR by Trea Turner. Since then he's allowed just 2 hits & 1 walk with 11 strikeouts (ties career high)
This is Imanaga's 4th career game with double-digit Ks, first since Sept. 16, 2024.
Nico Hoerner is just so, so good. Perfect example of a hitter who knows what he's great at and doesn't try to do too much in big spots.
He has a career-high 5 RBIs tonight to go with another 3-hit game. Hoerner is hitting .329 with a .415 OBP and 163 wRC+ on the season. His 18 RBIs are t-3rd in MLB
“We’re not going to get punked.”
The Sky want to alter their perception.
Skylar Diggins knows that starts (and ends) with her.
On why she trusts the Sky’s new vision, how she hopes to change an identity and what it means to be a good teammate, not an easy one.
Cubs top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins went on the IL at Triple A today with right elbow inflammation.
Counsell: “Right now we think it's just a little time down and it should be OK.”
Porter Hodge had a setback and will be undergoing UCL reconstruction surgery on Monday.
The extent of Hodge’s surgery won’t be known until the procedure is underway, Counsell said.
Cade Horton will have his elbow surgery on Thursday.
Upcoming pitching probables for Cubs-Mets at Wrigley this weekend:
Friday -- Edward Cabrera vs. Kodai Senga
Saturday -- Jameson Taillon vs. Freddy Peralta
Sunday -- Javier Assad vs. David Peterson
As the Cubs' offense looks to get collectively rolling, Nico Hoerner and Carson Kelly have been locked in through the first three weeks of the season, and it's continued tonight.
Hoerner (2 hits, 3 RBIs) and Kelly (2 hits, 3-run HR, walk) have helped the Cubs take a 10-4 lead over Phillies.
Roberts: "It’s bad timing for the team because they need innings out of guys to take heat off of their leverage guys, so that’s what’s frustrating.”
More on Roberts' freak injury and the Cubs carrying 5 lefty relievers:
www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/14/c...
Matthew Boyd will make a rehab start Thursday with Triple-A Iowa.
And as long as Boyd feels good coming out of that outing, he’s lined up to come off the IL to face the Phillies next week at Wrigley.
