Cubs bullpen repsonds to lead Chicago to 6-2 win - Game 23 Recap

Getty

Ben Brown pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Wrigley Field

The Chicago Cubs’ offense stays hot against the Arizona Diamondbacks as they take down the Diamondbacks for the second consecutive day.

A fast start

Corbin Carroll got the scoring started as the first batter of the game. He lifted one of the first pitches he saw into dead center field for an early ambush on Ben Brown. Then, after some traffic on the bases, Brown was able to settle in and limit the damage.

The Cubs’ offense would respond against Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen. After an Ian Happ leadoff walk, Kyle Tucker would triple for the second time in as many days to score Happ. A few batters later, Michael Busch would single to right to score Tucker and take the early 2-1 lead.

Browns day for the Cubs would be anything but smooth. He struggled with his command and drove his pitch count up in the first few innings. However, despite his sloppiness, he rallied to allow just one run in his four innings of work. He would end his day walking four, allowing three hits but giving u just one before giving way to the Cubs bullpen.

More run support

Unlike the Diamondbacks, the Cubs’ offense would not be satisfied with just scoring in the first inning. In the second inning, the Cubs would get a power surge from Seiya Suzuki and Michael Busch, who combined to make it a 6-1 game in favor of the Cubs.

Despite a rough start, Gallen would continue to fight for Arizona. He would end his afternoon throwing six innings, allowing six runs and striking out five.

After depleting their bullpens in yesterday’s fever dream of a game, both teams were relying on heroic performances from lesser-known pitchers.

A great bounce-back from the Cubs’ bullpen

The bullpens combined to keep this game quiet for the remaining seven innings of this game, with the Cubs’ bullpen especially bouncing back from yesterday’s performance. The Cubs didn’t allow a Diamondback baserunner for the final five innings of this game. This was busted by a two-out solo homer by Tim Tawa would cut the lead to just four. But for the most part, the trio of Caleb Thielbar, Brad Keller, and Daniel Palencia held it down big time for Chicago today.

In the eighth inning, Pete Crow-Armstrong would double on his bobblehead day. This hit extended his extra-base hit streak to an MLB best seven games this season. After struggling early, the speedster has come on these last few weeks.

The Cubs took care of business and defeated a really good Diamondbacks squad by a score of 6-2. Staring down the barrel of a brutal home stretch, the Cubs have won two of their first games.

Chicago will look to complete the sweep tomorrow on Easter. The Cubs will hand the ball to Jameson Taillon, while Arizona will give way to Merrill Kelly. Chicago advances to 14-9 on the season.

Afterwards, the Cubs play host to the Los Angeles Dodgers for their third series together in this young season.

Michael DeFrancisco Michael DeFrancisco is a writer and contributor covering MLB for Heavy Sports. He started working at Heavy in 2025 and has experince covering Chicago Sports. More about Michael DeFrancisco