Seiya Suzuki's grand slam redemption helps Cubs top Reds

As Seiya Suzuki started jogging to first while he watched the ball soar into the night sky, he slammed his bat to the ground and smacked his hands together.

Perhaps the display, which came after Suzuki connected on his first-career grand slam, was a bit of a release of frustration after what had just happened in the top of the second inning.

Justin Steele fell into some traffic in the frame against the Cincinnati Reds, loading the bases on a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. But with two outs, Reds third baseman Luke Maile lifted a ball into right field, seemingly the inning-ending fly out that would keep the game tied for the Chicago Cubs.

Instead, as Suzuki camped under the ball, it hit the bottom of his glove and fell to the ground. All three Cincinnati runners were on the move and scored on the play, while Maile hustled into second on the error. One batter later, Maile scored on a base hit to left field, putting the Cubs in a four-run hole.

“I just really wanted to apologize to Steele for that routine play that I should’ve obviously caught,” Suzuki said through interpreter Toy Matsushita. “But it’s really just mad at myself for not making a play that I should’ve.”

It was reminiscent of Suzuki’s error in Atlanta last September, probably the most infamous moment of the Cubs’ collapse that month to miss the playoffs: A fly ball with a chance to end a scoring threat, only for Suzuki to botch the play to give the opponent the lead.

But Suzuki wasn’t going to let an error define his night. And when given the opportunity in the bottom of the second, he delivered.

The Cubs made Reds starter Hunter Greene work, drawing three walks to load the bases for Suzuki, who stepped to the plate with two outs in the inning. He made Greene work, too, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Suzuki unloaded on a middle-in fastball.

The ball kept going and going and going until it sailed over the left-field bleachers, tying the ballgame just as quickly as the Reds took the lead.

“There’s nobody that was more excited for him than me,” Steele said. “I was down in the tunnel, freaking out. I was going nuts. What a moment for him. That’s just the kind of player he is. He doesn’t let things get to him. He comes right back, steps in the box and ties the game up. That’s the kind of player he is, and he’s going to help us win a lot of ballgames.”

“It just shows his character and who he is, who he is as a player,” Dansby Swanson said. “He has the ability to change the game at any point. He’s so talented and so gifted. A lot of people could kind of hang their heads after something like that would happen, but he obviously came right back and responded the way that we all know that he’s capable of.”

While not the deciding blast in the Cubs’ 7-5 win over the Reds on Saturday — that would come in the bottom of the eighth on Swanson’s go-ahead two-run shot — it was as important of a hit as they come for Suzuki as he looks to get back to the level he was at to begin the year.

After Thursday’s loss in Milwaukee, in which Suzuki came off the bench to hit a game-tying two-run homer in the top of the seventh, Cubs manager Craig Counsell made it clear how important Suzuki getting right would be for this lineup.

“Just great to see Seiya take a big swing,” Counsell said. “We desperately need him to get going, for sure. He’s a big part of our offense.”

Suzuki’s first few weeks of the season was a continuation his massive end to 2023. From the start of the year through April 14, he was anchoring the lineup, slashing .305/.368/.525/152 wRC+. But the next day, he was placed on the injured list with a right oblique strain. He’d miss nearly a month before returning three weeks ago.

The beginning of his return to action didn’t go as hoped. Through his first 10 games back, Suzuki slashed .105/.222/.250/38 wRC+. But after that stretch, he started finding his way out of that funk. He began what’s currently a nine-game hitting streak with a 2-for-4 game on May 23, and from then through Friday (his next eight games), Suzuki slashed .303/.343/.424/122 wRC+ — not quite at the level he was at in April, but he was getting there.

So, combined with his first-inning triple Saturday, the grand slam was another sign that Suzuki might just be getting back to being the anchor in the Cubs’ lineup. With this last nine-game stretch, his line is back up to .265/.322/.456/121 wRC+.

Being his own biggest critic, however, Suzuki still didn’t let himself off the hook for his mistake.

Postgame, he said it did make him “pretty emotional” and it “drove my emotions throughout the whole four at-bats [in the game].” He refused to blame the rainy conditions that caused a three-hour, 20-minute delay to the start of the game, and he seemed thankful that Swanson’s home run worked to “basically cover my error in the second inning.”

But he’s of course got the support of the rest of the team knowing how important he is to the Cubs’ success. Suzuki didn’t let the play affect the rest of his night — he came through on the other four balls hit his way after the error — and with a mighty swing of the bat, he found a way to redeem himself.

“I think you go through a huge range of emotions as a player, for sure,” Counsell said. “But to have that at-bat that he had, you’re going to be down after [the error] happens, and he went and he had a great at-bat in a huge spot. With one swing of the bat, the game’s back to even.

“Credit to Seiya for staying in it, because you feel awful when you do that. We’re all going to feel like that. But he stayed in it and he took a huge swing and changed the game.”

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