Paredes snaps slump with pivotal hit: 'Just makes you exhale'

MIAMI -- Isaac Paredes stepped up when the Cubs needed him most, lacing a decisive RBI double to push Chicago past the Marlins, 6-3, on Friday at loanDepot park.

Paredes, who was 0-for-3 as he made his way to the batter’s box in the top of the eighth, slammed a sinker from Marlins reliever Brett de Geus into the left-field corner to push home Seiya Suzuki and put the Cubs ahead for good.

“I think it just makes you exhale as much as anything,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "Just do something good and help you win. At the time, it was a huge hit against a tough, hard-throwing sinker baller.”

The third baseman, acquired in a trade from the Rays on July 28, was in a 1-for-26 slide entering the series opener in Miami and has hit just .147 with four doubles, two homers and nine RBIs since joining the Cubs.

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“He just hasn’t got on track offensively – there’s no question about it,” Counsell said prior to Thursday’s 10-2 win over the Tigers in Chicago. “He’d tell you the same thing. And we certainly are taking note of it, and he’s working his tail off to fix it. He’s a quiet, quiet kind of competitor, but he’s a really hard-working kid. And he cares a lot. It’s hard to see it sometimes. And so this is frustrating for him. There’s no question that this hurts him to not be playing well, but he will get there. He will. He will get there. He will get back on track. And we’ve got to help him do it. That’s our job.”

The cause of Paredes’ struggles is hard to pinpoint and Counsell would not speculate on Thursday if the All-Star infielder was putting pressure on himself to perform for his new team.

“I don’t know, but it certainly could be. I mean, I don’t know how else to answer that. I think change is hard for everybody. Isaac was in a place where -- I think you could say the same thing about [Christopher] Morel -- he had success and was comfortable. You don’t necessarily know how a change is going to affect you. I don’t think you use it as an excuse. None of us use it as an excuse. But you kind of don’t know. Even when you’re going through it, you don’t know, right?”

Fast forward to Friday night, Paredes’ double drove in the Cubs’ first run since the top of the third inning, when a pair of homers gave Chicago its first lead of the night.

Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong opened the third with some fireworks, mashing the first pitch he saw from Marlins starter Max Meyer to right field and showing off his elite sprint speed with the fastest home-to-home time of the season, 14.08 seconds.

But the Cubs still needed a big hit after reliever Tyson Miller issued a bases-loaded walk to Kyle Stowers, which tied the game in the fifth inning -- and the right-handed slugging Paredes was brought on board to get those kinds of big hits.

The win brought the Cubs to 64-65 on the season and 5 1/2 games back in the Wild Card race.