Bregman's 387-Foot Blast Blows It Open, Cubs Rout Reds 8-4

Alex Bregman went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBI, capping a decisive seventh inning with a 387-foot shot to left center that turned a one-run lead into a four-run cushion. The Cubs erased a two-run deficit and never looked back, handing Cincinnati a 8-4 loss on July 12.

Chicago jumped on Andrew Abbott early. In the first, Bregman doubled to center to score Crow-Armstrong, then Busch doubled to right to score Bregman — a clean 2-0 lead before Cincinnati had settled in. Abbott lasted only 4.0 innings, allowing 4 hits, 4 earned runs, and 3 walks against 3 strikeouts, and the Reds needed to go to the bullpen well ahead of schedule.

Cincinnati answered hard in the third. A Steer groundout plated De La Cruz, a Bleday single scored Stewart, and then Suárez launched a 433-foot home run to left that scored Bleday and flipped the scoreboard to 4-2 Cincinnati. That looked like a momentum-killer for Chicago — until the fourth. Alcántara singled to center, scoring both Busch and Kelly to tie the game at 4. That single swung Cincinnati's win probability from 69% to 46%, a 23-point shift that effectively reset the entire contest. Matthew Boyd, meanwhile, was grinding through it: 6.1 innings, 6 hits, 4 earned runs, but he kept Chicago in the game long enough for the offense to catch up.

The seventh inning is where the Cubs put it away for good. Crow-Armstrong singled to right to score Swanson and push Chicago ahead 5-4, and then Bregman — already the best story on the field — crushed a 387-foot homer to left center that scored Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki, making it 8-4 and ending any suspense. Gavin Hollowell closed things out with 1.2 scoreless innings and 3 strikeouts. The story of the night, it appears, was Bregman's ability to deliver in every phase: the early double that started the scoring, the fourth-inning rally that kept Chicago alive, and the seventh-inning hammer that finished Cincinnati off. Eugenio Suárez's 433-foot blast was the loudest moment of the night, but it wasn't enough — the Cubs were simply the better team from the fourth inning on.