Following that demolition of a ballgame, Cubs manager Craig Counsell gave a brutally honest comment on what undid his team on Friday, especially against Bellinger, who seemed to have something extra in reserve for his former ballclub.
“He’s having a nice year. We knew that going into the end of the series. He did his job tonight. We didn’t make good pitches to him. If you don’t make good pitches to good hitters, they hurt you,” Counsell told reporters following the Yankees’ 11-0 thrashing, via Marquee Sports Network on X (formerly Twitter).
Bellinger entered the night with 13 home runs and 48 runs batted in on the year on an OPS of .806. Those are really solid numbers, especially for a center fielder who can clean up his position nicely. But this three-home run explosion came out of nowhere as he took advantage of one meatball after another from Cubs pitchers.
In the third inning, Bellinger crushed a hanging curve ball from Chris Flexen; the Cubs starter threw a curve on the previous pitch that Bellinger seemed to see quite nicely, and he wasted no time proving as such by going yard the very next pitch.
And then in the fifth inning, the former Cubs center fielder sent a 92-mile per hour fastball at the top of the zone to right center field, scoring Jasson Dominguez and himself with one pitch yet again. But Bellinger wasn’t done sending home runs to deep right center field, as he launched another hanging breaking ball, this time a slider from Jordan Wicks, onto bleachers.
Yankees pull off much-needed offensive explosion vs. Cubs amid down stretch
The Yankees have led the AL East for much of the year but have fallen off the pace recently, with the Toronto Blue Jays exploding for an impressive stretch that has them atop the division by two games at present.
The next few games could end up being crucial for the Yankees. They have another game against the Cubs, a three-game set against the Atlanta Braves afterwards, and then they will meet the Blue Jays for a three-game series that could have major implications in the AL East standings come season’s end.
At the very least, the Yankees have restored some confidence in themselves, exploding for an 11-0 beatdown of a very good team in the Cubs, the current AL Central leader.
