Suzuki stays hot, but Cubs fall in opener with Wild Card implications

CHICAGO -- The ivy clinging to Wrigley Field’s wall in right-center field softened the carom of the baseball launched by Seiya Suzuki on Thursday night. It dropped to the warning track and rolled past the feet of D-backs center fielder Alek Thomas.

The bounce gave Suzuki just enough time to pull off a triple in the fifth inning -- keeping his prolonged hot streak going -- but it was one in a handful of shots by the Cubs blown back by an unfriendly wind. The D-backs did not have the same issue, belting a trio of homers to give Chicago a 6-2 loss to open a series ripe with potential playoff implications.

“Tonight was a weird one right?” Cubs manager David Ross said. “We hit some balls really hard. They just all went to the track. Seiya's, I can't believe Seiya's stayed in.”

• Games remaining: vs. AZ (3), at COL (3), at AZ (3), vs. PIT (3), vs. COL (3), at ATL (3), at MIL (3).

• Standings update: The Cubs (76-65) are two games behind the Brewers (77-62) for first place in the NL Central. The Cubs and Brewers have split the season series so far, so the tiebreaker has not yet been determined. Chicago sits in the second Wild Card spot, trailing the Phillies by two games, but holding a three-game lead over the third-seeded D-backs (73-68). The Marlins, Reds and Giants are also in the hunt. The Cubs have won the tiebreaker over San Francisco, but lost it to Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Miami. They have six games left against Arizona.

According to Statcast, Suzuki’s deep fly off the bricks and greenery would have been a home run in 20 MLB ballparks. The Cubs' right fielder did find his way home, jogging the remaining 90 feet when Jeimer Candelario followed with a shot to right that resulted in a sacrifice fly.

That was the kind of night it was for the Cubs, who had a slew of hard-hit balls turn into hard-luck outs, while Tommy Pham (two homers) and Ketel Marte (one) broke through for the D-backs. It happened again in the ninth, when Suzuki ripped a pitch from closer Paul Sewald up the third-base line. The ball had an expected batting average of .580, but resulted in a game-ending groundout with two runners aboard.

It was a turn-the-page loss, but the page did at least feature another strong night from the resurgent Suzuki.

“His skill set and his raw talent and what he can do with the bat is really, really special,” Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said this week. “And I don't think there's a ceiling for it. I think we're just starting to get to see it.”

It has been well-documented how Suzuki was given a four-game mental break in early August, when his season slash line stood at .249/.327/.388 on Aug. 7 after a two-month slump. The right fielder’s confidence had taken a hit and Ross wanted Suzuki to take a deep breath, watching the game without the pressure of competing.

Since Suzuki returned to the starting lineup on Aug. 9, he has slashed .363/.405/.735 with seven home runs, 11 doubles, three triples and 21 RBIs. In that 27-game stretch, he has produced a 15.3% strikeout rate, which is a dramatic drop from the 26.5% strikeout rate he had from June 1-Aug. 7.

Overall, Suzuki is now slashing .275/.345/.468 in 118 games, raising his season OPS to .813 from .715 in his past 27 games.

“When you sit and watch a game from the bench,” Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said, “and you watch peers play it at a really high level, I think you start to realize that it's probably not as fast and as pressure packed as what you can make it at certain times. So I think that was really big for him.”

Kelly added that Suzuki made some changes behind the scenes around the same time.

Since Suzuki signed with the Cubs prior to last season -- coming into the fold via a five-year, $85 million pact -- he has displayed a tireless work ethic. That has included a high volume of swings before, during and after games. Recently, the Cubs’ hitting group teamed with Suzuki on finding cage work that better addressed specific goals.

Kelly explained that Suzuki has “condensed” his routine, cutting back on the sheer amount of swings being taken. The hitting coach said the outfielder has been able to learn some from the work of Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger and Ian Happ, who have routines that target certain aspects of their swing and approach.

“We kind of started doing some slower tosses with him,” Kelly said, “just to help kind of move his body forward a little bit and feel the contact point out in front a little bit more. He does almost like a slow pitch softball type flip. That's really helped him kind of move through the ball, stay behind it, and look to drive the ball in the air.”

The results have been crucial for the Cubs’ lineup.

“He’s in a confident place,” Ross said. “I think he came back with a joy to play baseball, like, ‘I'm just going to go out there and have fun.’ And you see how much fun he's having. You see the production and then the confidence builds. Am I shocked? No, because this is the player I thought we were getting.”