{"id":776757,"date":"2026-05-06T07:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T07:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/776757\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T07:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T07:24:16","slug":"chicago-cubs-5th-walk-off-has-them-playing-with-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/776757\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs’ 5th walk-off has them playing with confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon wandered over to his fellow starters Colin Rea and Matthew Boyd after exiting Tuesday\u2019s game against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field in the sixth inning with a two-run deficit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to win this game, aren\u2019t we?\u201d Taillon asked the duo.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we\u2019re going to win this game,\u201d they responded.<\/p>\n

The trio was right. The Cubs scored a run in the seventh and eighth innings before Michael Busch hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning, sparking the Cubs to a 3-2 win over the Reds, their seventh straight victory and 13th consecutive at Wrigley Field<\/a>. The Cubs are 17-3 in their last 20 games, a span that started with a 10-game winning streak. They are 16-5 at home for the first time since 1985.<\/p>\n

The Cubs are on such a roll that there\u2019s a confidence<\/a> they\u2019re never out of a game. Back-to-back walk-off victories will breed the idea that they are going to win every game.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, that\u2019s not how it always works, but there is a real feeling and belief right now,\u201d Taillon said. \u201cAgain, we\u2019re just winning games in a lot of different ways, which is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson (7) slides in safely at home to score the game-winning run on a single by teammate Michael Busch in the tenth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley Field in Chicago on May 5, 2026. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Busch\u2019s hit on Tuesday marked the fifth walk-off win by the Cubs this season, following Michael Conforto\u2019s pinch hit home run in Monday\u2019s 5-4 triumph<\/a>. All five walk-off hits have been collected by a different player: Carson Kelly, Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner have the other three.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a great representation of what we\u2019ve been talking about: the lineup, how much the bench guys have produced, and we can produce up and down the lineup,\u201d Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after the game. \u201cThat\u2019s a cool stat, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs, though, know they can\u2019t become complacent with the streak they\u2019re on. It\u2019s early May, and no one is clinching anything anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re playing really good baseball, but at the same time, just continue to keep it going and tomorrow\u2019s going to matter just as much as today,\u201d Busch said. \u201cYou enjoy it, but also you flush it and get ready for tomorrow, is the mindset. But definitely enjoy it, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happ gives back<\/p>\n

Cubs left fielder Ian Happ stood in the seats along the third base line more than three hours before the Cubs\u2019 win against the Reds, answering questions from a group of more than two dozen high school students.<\/p>\n

The left fielder, through his Ian Happ Foundation, partners with local organizations to bring children and teens to the Friendly Confines, letting them experience batting practice, go out to dinner before the game and then watch the contest.<\/p>\n

\n

Photos: Chicago Cubs 3, Cincinnati Reds 2 (10)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tuesday, it was the baseball teams of a pair of high schools \u2014 Farragut in the Little Village neighborhood and Solorio Academy in Gage Park. The teams had participated in the inaugural Chicago Latino Baseball Classic at UIC over the weekend, beating Clemente and Kennedy, respectively.<\/p>\n

Happ spent part of his pregame talking with the players from both teams and answering questions before they went onto the field to watch the Cubs and Reds prepare for the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to interact with kids and show them, \u2018Hey, the guys on the field care about your development and what you\u2019re doing,\u2019\u201d Happ told the Tribune. \u201cAnd if they can hear a personal story from me that helps them, then it\u2019s all worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happ drew a walk in the ninth inning of Friday\u2019s win, extending his on-base streak to a career-high 26 games. It\u2019s the longest on-base streak by a Cub since Hoerner\u2019s 26-game stretch in 2023. The last Cub to have an on-base streak longer than 26 games was Bryan LaHair\u2019s 30-game run in 2012.<\/p>\n

Unique strikeout
\n\"ChicagoChicago Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya (9) and starting pitcher Jameson Taillon (50) congratulate one another after finishing off the Cincinnati Reds in the third inning of a game at Wrigley Field in Chicago on May 5, 2026. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Taillon wasn\u2019t totally pleased with his outing on Tuesday. He allowed a pair of runs in 5 2\/3 innings, but fell behind hitters, forcing him to throw 100 pitches in the outing and robbing him of the chance to pitch deeper in the game.<\/p>\n

But his final out was a bit of a fun moment for the right-hander.<\/p>\n

Reds first baseman Sal Stewart was making Taillon grind. He worked back from 0-2 to load the count and grind a 10-pitch at-bat. Taillon tried everything against him \u2014 sweeper, sinker, fastball, changeup, cutter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI threw a curveball to a righty, which I never do,\u201d Taillon said.<\/p>\n

On the 10th pitch, catcher Miguel Amaya called for another changeup \u2014 Taillon said he had never thrown that pitch twice to a right-hander before. But the pitch clock was winding down, and the veteran decided to trust his batterymate.<\/p>\n

The result was a swinging strikeout eliciting a smile from the often-stoic Taillon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I was smiling cause it was a long at-bat and I didn\u2019t even want to throw the pitch, and I got a strikeout,\u201d Taillon said.<\/p>\n

Andy Martinez is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon wandered over to his fellow starters Colin Rea and Matthew Boyd after exiting…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":776758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1271,5048,16075,5604,5386,1818,5439,5606,1822,1272],"class_list":{"0":"post-776757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-chicago-cubs","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-dansby-swanson","12":"tag-ian-happ","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-illinois","15":"tag-jameson-taillon","16":"tag-michael-busch","17":"tag-mlb-baseball","18":"tag-wrigley-field"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116526440046680686","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}