After an incredibly deflating loss suffered at the hands of the Houston Astros last night, the bright spots of the evening for the Chicago Cubs wound up going overlooked. Aside from how hot Christopher Morel has been since being called back up, the biggest story for the Chicago Cubs offensively has been slugger, Seiya Suzuki. Now on a torrid pace in May after blasting two more home runs in Minute Maid Park last evening. Take a look at the first that he hit, a towering fly ball that nearly landed on the train tracks:
Homers in back-to-back games for Seiya Suzuki! pic.twitter.com/7z6HYsD5ZI
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 18, 2023
What a moonshot. At the time, that was his second home run in two plate appearances. However, he wouldn’t stop there, as in his next plate appearance, he became the first Japanese-born player to hit three home runs in three consecutive at-bats:
Seiya Suzuki, blast off. 🚀
He launches his 2nd HR of the night 💪
(via @WatchMarquee)pic.twitter.com/gaHi6cfNp2
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 18, 2023
On his third AB, Suzuki drew a four-pitch walk before finishing his night with a 3-3 with two bases on balls and driving in half of the Cubs’ runs with 3 RBIs. Where the Cubs have needed to add more slugging offensively, Suzuki has delivered. He owns a slash line of .286/.372/.491 with 5 HRs and 17 RBIs in 112 ABs. He also raised his wRC+ last night to a well above-average 134. Most notably, both of Suzuki’s home runs last night came off of sliders, which shows that he is adjusting back to pitchers that stopped throwing him as many fastballs, where he was primarily doing the bulk of his damage.
For May, Suzuki is slashing .280/.362/.480, but more importantly is 10-25 in his last seven games, with 4 HR and 8 RBIs, good for a .400 batting average since May 10th. Suzuki being this hot at the dish probably catapults him back in the clean-up spot permanently until further notice, moving Bellinger back down to the 5th spot in the lineup once he returns, presumably on Friday. Stay hot, Seiya.
