Swanson's Two-Homer Night Powers Cubs Past Padres, 9-7
Dansby Swanson went 3-for-4 with two home runs and 3 RBI as the Cubs outlasted the Padres 9-7 in a game that featured ten home runs total. The Cubs built a lead so commanding by the second inning that San Diego's furious late push — two home runs in the eighth — never got close enough to matter.
The game turned ugly for San Diego before it even found its footing. Fernando Tatis Jr. gave the Padres a 1-0 lead with a 425-foot shot to left in the first, but the Cubs answered immediately when a single to center scored Suzuki to tie it. Then the second inning happened. Swanson launched a 432-foot home run to center to put Chicago ahead, and two batters later, Bregman crushed a 415-foot three-run shot to left center, scoring Alcántara and Crow-Armstrong. That single swing pushed Chicago's win probability from 80% to 93% — a 13-point lurch that effectively told the story of the night. The Cubs led 5-1 after two innings, and JP Sears had already allowed 6 earned runs on 8 hits across 4.2 innings.
Chicago kept piling on. Busch homered to right center in the fifth, and Swanson followed with his second blast of the night — a 437-foot shot to left center that scored Happ and pushed the lead to 8-3. Crow-Armstrong added a solo shot to right center in the sixth to make it 9-3. The story of the night was the Cubs' lineup operating like a wrecking crew through the middle innings, with Matthew Boyd doing just enough on the mound — 5.0 innings, 3 earned runs — to keep the lead intact while the offense did the heavy lifting. Tyler Ferguson, recalled from the minors after Hoby Milner was placed on the IL with appendicitis, tossed a clean inning of relief.
San Diego refused to fold entirely. Manny Machado went 2-for-5 with a homer and 2 RBI, and the Padres mounted a genuine scare in the eighth when Gavin Sheets launched a three-run shot to right center and Tatis Jr. followed with his second home run of the game — a 370-footer — to cut the deficit to 9-7. Tatis finished 2-for-5 with 2 HR and 2 RBI, which looks like the kind of performance that wins most games. It just wasn't enough tonight. Crow-Armstrong, who made news Tuesday by declining the Home Run Derby invitation for the second straight year, answered with his bat instead — a homer and two runs scored in a game that, frankly, he appeared to enjoy far more than any Derby spotlight.