Minnesota Twins at Chicago Cubs

· Major League Baseball

Minnesota Twins

63-50, 31-29 Away

Final
2 - 8

Chicago Cubs

57-60, 32-27 Home

Ian Happ and Michael Busch homers power Cubs past Twins 8-2

Trevor Richards' wild pitch allows Cubs to extend lead

Javier Assad worked the first four innings and Jorge López (2-2) worked two innings and earned the victory. The Cubs took the last two games of the three-game series and have won six of their last eight.

Minnesota's Trevor Richards (2-2), who entered when starter Joe Ryan’ left in the third, didn’t make it out of the inning. Richards allowed three runs after walking five and throwing two wild pitches. One of the errant throws allowed a run to score and the Cubs added a run on Seiya Suzuki’s bases-loaded walk. Isaac Paredes added a sacrifice fly as the Cubs moved out to a 4-2 lead.

“We did a nice job taking advantage of that,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Kind of kept moving the line and made Richards throw a lot of pitches.”

The Cubs’ relievers held the Twins to just three hits after Assad departed.

Ryan, who gave up Busch’s solo homer in the first, left four pitches into the third inning with right triceps tightness.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Ryan will be evaluated further after a few days and added the 28-year-old right-hander could miss some time moving forward.

After Ryan left the game, the Twins struggled.

“We didn’t play great from that point on,” Baldelli said.

Happ hit a two-run homer off Josh Winder in the fourth inning, a 376-foot shot that landed in the palm of the hand of a fan standing in the party deck in right field. Dansby Swanson and Christian Bethancourt added RBI off Caleb Theilbar in the eighth.

“When you find momentum like this, you want to take advantage,” Bethancourt said after the Cubs completed a 5-2 homestand.

Assad allowed three hits and both Minnesota runs. He walked two and struck out one. Matt Wallner had an RBI double in the first and Brooks Lee added an RBI groundout in the second.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: … Wallner was hit in the arm by a pitch from Assad in the third inning, but remained in the game. … CF Austin Martin took a Julian Merryweather pitch off his left shoulder in the ninth, but went to first without assistance.

Twins: After a day off Thursday, play a doubleheader Friday against visiting Cleveland. RHP Bailey Ober (11-5, 3.69 ERA) is scheduled to start one of the games. The Guardians have not named starters.

Cubs: Off Thursday before taking on the crosstown rival White Sox on Friday. RHP Jameson Taillon (7-6, 3.25) faces White Sox righty Garrett Crochet (6-8, 3.19).

How can I watch Minnesota Twins vs. Chicago Cubs?

TV Channel: Twins at Cubs 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLBN.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Cubs: 49.8%

Twins: 50.2%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Castro grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Lee popped out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Martin hit by pitch.
	9th Inning	Kepler struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Merryweather relieved Hodge
	8th Inning	Happ struck out swinging.

Statistics

MIN		CHC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
2	Hit By Pitch	0
9	Ground Balls	12
7	Strikeouts	8
2	Runs Batted In	7
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
6	Hits	8
0	Stolen Bases	4
2	Walks	5
0	Catcher Interference	0
2	Runs	8
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	1
33	At Bats	31
0	Home Runs	2
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
17	Runners Left On Base	10
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	2
17	Fly Balls	12
0	Caught Stealing	0
139	Pitches	167
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
8	Total Bases	16
37	Plate Appearances	37
0.0	Projected Home Runs	324.0
2	Extra Base Hits	4
2.3	Runs Created	6.8
.182	Batting Average	.258
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.242	Slugging Percentage	.516
.121	Secondary Average	.548
.270	On Base Percentage	.351
.513	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.867
0.5	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.0
2.3	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	7.6
18.0	Batter Rating	52.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	15.5
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.76	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.51
.061	Isolated Power	.258
0.29	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.63
.054	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.135
-.061	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.290
4.0	Runs Produced	15.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	0.9
0.3	Patience Ratio	0.6
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.3
69.5	MLB Rating	92.8
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0