Can the Cubs' 10th-inning outburst be the offense's turning point?

MILWAUKEE — Luis Vázquez knew how important his run would be for the Chicago Cubs.

It’s not just that he represented the go-ahead run, as he was inserted to pinch run as the automatic runner in the top of the 10th Tuesday night. But with the Cubs’ offensive struggles being at the forefront of their fall back down to .500 over the last month, getting his team the lead in extras could make a big difference.

Mike Tauchman led off the frame lining the ball back at Milwaukee Brewers reliever Trevor Megill. The contact it made with Megill’s throwing arm made a sound you could hear from the stands, and rather than pick up the ball, he jogged toward the home dugout, clearly in pain.

The Brewers were slow to react, but Vázquez wasn’t. While the ball sat untouched in front of the mound, the 24-year-old (in just his second appearance in a big league game) motored around third and headed home.

“I was just aggressive. I just didn’t stop,” Vázquez said through interpreter Fredy Quevedo Jr. “[Third-base coach] Willie [Harris] was definitely yelling at me, but I was just aggressive, didn’t stop, and I just made sure that I was safe.”

Vázquez slid into the plate before Milwaukee first baseman Owen Miller could make a throw, giving the Cubs a one-run lead.

“Just good court awareness, so to speak, and that made a difference,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “You get a run on the board after one hitter. That makes a big difference.”

But the offense didn’t stop there.

Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger followed with back-to-back base knocks to drive Tauchman home, and after Nick Madrigal laid down a sacrifice bunt, Ian Happ doubled over the right fielder’s head to extend the lead to four. Two batters later, Michael Busch singled up the middle, bringing in Happ for another insurance run.

The Brewers rallied in the bottom frame, but the Cubs held them off long enough to earn a much-needed 6-3 win at American Family Field. It was a breath of fresh air, a necessary change of pace from the performance the lineup had been giving in recent weeks.

The offense wasted a stellar start by Justin Steele in Monday’s loss, and it looked like more of the same was in store Tuesday.

Ben Brown was dominant. Over seven innings, he no-hit Milwaukee while striking out 10 and walking only two. The closest the Brewers came to a hit was a near-home run by Willy Adames in the bottom of the seventh, but Bellinger turned it into a long fly out instead.

However, the only run of support behind Brown was Busch’s solo homer in the third, and the Cubs were unable to score in two separate bases-loaded situations. It was the latest entry in a line of games in which starters gave the team a great chance to win a ballgame, but the lineup couldn’t back them up.

The Cubs entered play on April 27 a season-high eight games above .500 with an offense that had scored the third-most runs in baseball (140) and held the sixth-best wRC+ (112). But from that day (a 17-0 loss in Boston) through Monday, the script flipped. Over those 28 games, they had scored the least runs in the majors (88) while posting the lowest wRC+ (78). That was a major contributor to the Cubs entering Tuesday with a 27-27 record.

“No one has been hot,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said pregame Tuesday. “Ultimately, that’s a very unusual thing. Normally, you got a few guys who are hot, a few guys who are cold, a few guys in the middle. Right now, there’s no one carrying the load, and I think that really has an impact.”

Across that April 27-May 27 span, only four players currently on the roster posted a wRC+ of 100 or higher (100 is league average): Bellinger (122), Patrick Wisdom (111), Tauchman (107) and Nico Hoerner (100).

Happ (96) and Christopher Morel (94) weren’t far from positive marks, but the likes of Busch (73), Suzuki (51) and Dansby Swanson (36) disappointed at the plate. Overall, the Cubs just didn’t have anyone contributing enough to help the team overcome the offensive struggles and produce more wins.

“We had a really good offense last year, and we’re struggling this year with the same guys,” Hoyer said. “I think we will hit. I don’t know what else to think of it. Obviously, we’ve asked as many questions as we can. The hard part is, like, there’s no team meeting to snap your fingers and do it. You have to come out of these things. We don’t know when, but I’m very confident we’ll come out of this and we’ll start scoring runs. I do think there will be a cumulative exhale.”

There aren’t any easy answers right now, but while some fans may want bold decisions to be made to right the ship, the Cubs are preaching patience. Counsell isn’t drastically changing the lineup every time the offense has issues scoring. Multiple times Tuesday, Hoyer pointed to players’ track records as a reason to believe things will turn for the better.

Of course, someone like Busch doesn’t really have a track record this early in his career. But looking at the rest of the Cubs’ lineup, there’s some validity to Hoyer’s point.

Morel posted a 108 and 119 wRC+ his first two seasons, respectively, but despite showing real improvements in plate discipline, generally hitting the ball well and posting solid underlying numbers, his wRC+ is stuck at a 95. That feels like it should improve. The same goes for Suzuki, who in his first two seasons posted a 122 wRC+. That’s currently at 100 in 2024, which also feels like it should get better.

Swanson posted a 108 wRC+ from 2020-23. Though he may not end up being the middle-of-the-order bat fans hoped he could be when he signed with the Cubs, his 77 wRC+ this season is just too far below where he’s been the last few years. Happ’s 102 wRC+ in 2024 would be the worst of his career, and the marks he recorded in that category in 2022 and ’23 (120 and 118, respectively) suggest it should rise as well.

No major leaguer is immune to rough stretches or even rough seasons. Hoyer has said before teams won’t have everyone hitting well at the same time. But to have this many hitters underperforming simultaneously — it’s hard to believe it’ll last forever.

“You never know when a hot streak ends and when a cold streak begins, and vice versa,” Hoyer said. “Hopefully soon, we’ll start turning it around. Maybe it’s a big game, maybe it’s a few balls falling in, whatever it is to have it click, and then I think we’ll start scoring runs again.”

That 10th inning was a step in the right direction. For it to be the turning point for the Cubs’ offense, they’ll have to go out and perform consistently over a longer stretch of games.

Hoyer and Co. aren’t in panic mode, but if the bad continues deeper into the year, changes will have to be made. For now, the Cubs are maintaining the belief that the lineup is good enough to get back on track soon.

“We’ll get through this,” Hoyer said. “We have a good offense. We’ll get on the right side of this.”

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