Justin Steele dominates as Cubs blowout Guardians
David Banks - USA Today Sports

Justin Steele dominates as Cubs blowout Guardians
by - Senior Writer - Fri Jun 30 19:54:57 GMT-04:00 2023

CHICAGO - It is rare when a team can say they have two aces on their staff. The Chicago Cubs (38-42) are one of the lucky teams to have two Aces, and they will be sending both of them to the mound this weekend. Coming off a rough series against Philadelphia and losers of four straight, the Cubs turned to the Steele Curtain Justin Steele to play the stopper against the Cleveland Guardians (39-42).

Ignore the Guardians record for a moment. They are a club battling for a playoff spot, so any win against them would be huge at this point. Not only did Steele deliver, but so did the offense as the Cubs returned to their winning ways with a dominating 10-1 over the Guardians. Three starts since returning from the IL, Steele has looked better than ever as he gave the Cubs 6 1/3 innings of shutout baseball. He walked one and struck out six to lower his ERA to 2.43 as he continues to make a case for Seattle.

“It'd be quite the honor," Steele said after game if he got picked to start the All-Star game. "It'd be really cool, another notch on the belt. I just take pride in showing up each and every day when the ball is handed to me and just giving my team the best chance to win the game that day.”

Cubs manager has nothing but great things to say about Steele after the win.

“He's a horse, man,” Ross said. “Every time he takes the bump, he feels like a guy [that] it's Win Day. He loves to take the ball. ... He's been really good, man.

“He's turned into an ace, is what I think he is. He’s proven it.”

Opposing him was right-hander Cal Quantrill whose rough season continues. Qunatrill got off to a strong start, but the wheels began to fall off in the fourth as he was charged with six earned runs on eight hits in just 3 1/3. That was more than enough offense for the Cubs, who were struggling coming into this game.

For the most part, Steele was dominant, but things didn't start that way as he hit Tyler Freeman to begin the game and then uncorked a throwing error to put two runners on and no outs. Steele would bounce back to retire the next three, which started a string of 12 straight hitters retired for the left-hander.

Apart from the Nico Hoerner single in the first, Quantrill was making quick work of the Cubs early until the bottom of the third inning rolled around. One-out singles from Jared Young and Nick Madrigal got things started while the walk to Mike Tauchman loaded the bases for the Cub's best RBI guy.

As he has done so often this season, Hoerner came through and laced an RBI single up the middle to plate a pair and gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead.

That would be all the offense they would need, but they were not done adding on.

With Steele officially on cruise control by the time the fourth inning rolled around, it made things a lot easier for the Cubs offense with Cody Bellinger and Yan Gomes leading off the fourth with a pair of singles. Young followed that up with his second triple in as many days as his hotting continued, pushing the Cub's lead to 4-0. Tauchman would add an RBI single two batters later to extend the lead to 5-0, with Christopher Morel adding a sacrifice fly to give the Cubs a 6-0 lead through four.

Holding a no-hitter through four, David Fry led the fifth with a controversial call, but it was ruled a hit compared to an error. Two batters later saw Myles Straw pick up the Guardian's second hit of the inning as Steele was facing his first jam since the first inning. However, like he had done so many times before, Steele escaped the inning without damage and kept the Cubs in front 6-0.

With a six-run lead and not much to worry about, the Cubs chose to play long ball in the sixth to add more insurance runs. First, it was Madrigal coming through with his first homer as a Cub to extend the Cubs lead to 7-0.

Hoerner extended the inning with a two-out hit by a pitch and then came home to score on the Morel blast as the Cubs opened up the 9-0 lead. For Morel, that was his 14th homer of the season, as he is now tied with Patrick Wisdom for the team lead.

Looking to get through seven, Steele walked Fry to start the inning before a fielders choice wound up being the final hitter he would face as David Ross went to Michael Fulmer and his bullpen. Despite an ERA sitting at 4.98, Fulmer has been on a roll since mid-May and has allowed two runs over his last 14 innings. He needed three pitches to finish the seventh as he got Straw to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Once the bottom of the seventh rolled around, the Cub's offense continued their onslaught, with Dansby Swanson leading things off with a double before the infield hit from Bellinger put a pair of runners on with no outs. Two batters later, Trey Mancini entered the game as a pinch hitter and came through with a sacrifice fly as the Cubs pushed their lead to 10-0. That would be it offensively for them, as they had six outs to complete the shutout.

Despite a shaky eighth inning from Anthony Kay, he escaped a bases-loaded situation without allowing a run and got the game to the ninth with the shutout intact. In came Michael Rucker, who was very good in his inning, but he did allow a Will Brennan solo homer to end the shutout as the Cubs took care of business 10-1. Hoerner led the Cubs offense with three hits and two RBIs as he reached base four times.

Bellinger, Young, and Madrigal added two hits in the win, with Young and Morel adding five combined RBIs. The Cubs will return to the field tomorrow night as they send their other Ace, Marcus Stroman, to the bump. The first pitch is set for 6:15 PM.

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