The Cubs started their three-city, nine-game road trip by losing four of the first five games. After losing their last game of the preceding homestand, the Cubs came into Sunday’s game with five losses in six games. The warm and fuzzy feelings engendered by winning seven of eight following the All-Star break were becoming a distant memory.
Then Sunday’s game happened. Kyle Schwarber hit a grand slam in the second inning. Just two innings later, he followed that up with a three-run homer. Seven RBI in four innings is pretty rare air. One game can’t re-write a career’s worth of narrative or even a team’s worth of struggles with runners in scoring position.