Detroit Tigers at Chicago Cubs

· Major League Baseball

Detroit Tigers

62-65, 31-33 Away

Final
8 - 2

Chicago Cubs

62-65, 35-29 Home

Greene, Sweeney and Carpenter homer as the Tigers beat the Cubs 8-2

Detroit won for the seventh time in nine games, bouncing back nicely after losing 3-1 to Chicago in the series opener on Tuesday. Greene, Sweeney, Carpenter and Parker Meadows, who had three hits from the leadoff spot, were among seven left-handed batters in the Tigers' starting lineup for the matchup with Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon.

“Pretty impressive offensive contribution from a lot of guys,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.

Brant Hurter (1-1), the second of five Detroit pitchers, worked 3 2/3 innings for his first win in his fourth major league appearance. The 6-foot-6 left-hander was struck by Seiya Suzuki's comebacker in the sixth, but he stayed in the game for one more batter.

Chicago, which is trying to make up ground in the race for the third NL wild card, dropped to 10-7 in August. It had won three of four.

Christian Bethancourt hit a two-run homer off Hurter in the fifth, but the Cubs (62-65) left six runners on base on manager Craig Counsell's 54th birthday. Taillon (8-8) pitched five innings of six-hit ball.

“I feel like the first couple innings were a little out of character,” Counsell said of Taillon's outing. “The misses were a little bigger than usual and having a little hard time getting ahead of hitters, and they took advantage of it.”

The Tigers broke it open when they scored four runs in the ninth against Jack Neely in his big league debut. Greene singled home Zach McKinstry before Carpenter hit a three-run shot on a 3-0 fastball for his 12th homer of the season.

“I was just on the heater and, looking for it literally in a certain spot,” Carpenter said, “and if it's in that spot, I just want to go.”

Detroit (62-65) jumped in front on Sweeney's first homer in his third major league game. With Jace Jung aboard on a leadoff walk in the second, Sweeney drove a 2-1 curveball into the basket in center at Wrigley Field.

The ball bounced back onto the warning track and Sweeney stopped at third before the umpires confirmed it was a home run.

Sweeney, a first-round pick by the New York Yankees in the 2021 amateur draft, was acquired in the Jack Flaherty trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers last month. The Louisville, Kentucky, native played college ball at Eastern Illinois and had his parents in the stands Wednesday night as part of a large contingent of supporters.

“It would have been cool anywhere, for sure,” Sweeney said of his first homer, “but definitely at Wrigley is pretty sweet.”

Greene capped Detroit's four-run second with his own two-run shot, a 422-foot drive into the bleachers in right-center for his 18th homer. It was the first hit for the All-Star slugger since he was activated from the injured list on Sunday after being sidelined by a right hamstring strain.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Tigers: RHP Reese Olson (shoulder strain) threw 20 pitches in a bullpen session. “He accomplished the next step, so now we've got to build volume and get him off the mound again in a few days and just continue the normal ramp back up,” Hinch said.

Cubs: LHP Jordan Wicks (right oblique strain) felt great after pitching four scoreless innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Iowa on Tuesday. He threw 53 pitches, 34 for strikes. He is expected to make at least one more rehab start in the minors. ... RHP Hayden Wesneski (forearm strain) was scheduled for a bullpen session in Arizona on Wednesday.

Justin Steele (3-5, 3.10 ERA) pitches for Chicago on Thursday in the finale of the three-game series. The left-hander has a 1.23 ERA in 14 2/3 innings over three August starts. The Tigers hadn't announced their starting pitcher.

How can I watch Detroit Tigers vs. Chicago Cubs?

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

Matchup Prediction

Cubs: 56.7%

Tigers: 43.3%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Bote fouled out to first.
	9th Inning	Bote hit for Crow-Armstrong
	9th Inning	Swanson struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Hoerner flied out to center.
	9th Inning	Wentz relieved Holton
	9th Inning	Keith lined out to shortstop.

Statistics

DET		CHC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
14	Ground Balls	14
9	Strikeouts	10
8	Runs Batted In	2
0	Sacrifice Hit	1
10	Hits	6
1	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	0
0	Catcher Interference	0
8	Runs	2
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
37	At Bats	34
3	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
13	Runners Left On Base	11
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	0
14	Fly Balls	11
0	Caught Stealing	0
155	Pitches	139
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	2
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
22	Total Bases	9
40	Plate Appearances	35
486.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
6	Extra Base Hits	1
7.3	Runs Created	1.1
.270	Batting Average	.176
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.595	Slugging Percentage	.265
.432	Secondary Average	.088
.325	On Base Percentage	.176
.920	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.441
1.0	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.3
7.3	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	1.1
58.0	Batter Rating	17.0
12.3	At Bats Per Home Run	34.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.88	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.97
.324	Isolated Power	.088
0.33	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.00
.075	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.000
.162	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.088
16.0	Runs Produced	4.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.6	Patience Ratio	0.3
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.2
99.0	MLB Rating	68.8
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0