A stoic Kyle Tucker is better for the Chicago Cubs than an emotional Kyle Tucker.
The right fielder, who admitted he is in one of the worst offensive stretches of his career, showed some fire in the fifth inning Saturday afternoon and threw his bat halfway to third base after striking out.
For those keeping score at home, that’s the second time in five days the usually even-keeled Tucker had a brief meltdown.
On Tuesday, he threw his helmet in the dugout in Toronto after a groundout.
“It just kind of happens,” Tucker said of his outbursts. “Normally I don’t show too much emotion out there and I just try to do my job. But the last two months or so have been tough.
“I just want to move on and take the next at-bat and try to regroup.”
He did that in his next at-bat Saturday.
Tucker led off the eighth inning with a single to right and stole second to start a two-run rally, and the Cubs held on to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 in front of 40,062.
Tucker was traded to the Cubs in December with one year left on his contract, and during the first few months of the season, he had been a key in helping the Cubs become one of the highest-scoring teams in the majors.
Both he and the Cubs offense have cooled off, and he hasn’t hit a home run since July 19. He hit .136 on the recent six-game trip to St. Louis and Toronto.
“He’s been frustrated that he misses pitches,” manager Craig Counsell said of Tucker. “That is very normal. You don’t see it (the emotion) because he doesn’t do it.
“When you miss pitches that you generally hit pretty far, you ask yourself why. But I think the plate discipline is still really strong.”
The Cubs (69-53) snapped a 35-game streak without a comeback win, the longest skid in franchise history, according to team historian Ed Hartig.
With the Cubs trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Carson Kelly singled home Tucker to tie it. That score held until Tucker started the rally in the eighth. Seiya Suzuki singled in Tucker, and then Nico Hoerner doubled home Suzuki.
Reliever Andrew Kittredge (3-3) picked up the win. Brad Keller, filling in for regular closer Daniel Palencia, picked up his first save of the season. He gave up a leadoff single and then struck out the side.
“That was quite the experience,” Keller said. “It was an electric crowd and an electric environment.
“I tried not to think about it and tried to go about my business but it was definitely different. When you play in front of a crowd like this where they are on their feet with two outs … it’s cool. It’s an incredible environment.”
Shota Imanaga kept the rotation’s hot streak going. Heading into Saturday’s game, Cubs starting pitchers had allowed just 46 earned runs in 144 innings — a 2.88 ERA — in the last 27 games.
Imanaga helped lower that number when he retired the first 10 Pirates hitters he faced until Tommy Pham hit a 428-foot home run on a 1-0 pitch to give the visitors 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth.
In his first three career appearances against the Pirates, Imanaga had not allowed a run in 19 innings.
Pham also walked in the sixth inning, the first time Imanaga surrendered a free pass since July 19 against the Boston Red Sox. Imanaga gave up one run on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts in seven innings in the no-decision.
Pete Crow-Armstrong, who bruised his knee in the seventh inning in Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Pirates, was good to go Saturday. He had an active 0-for-1 game in which he walked, was hit by a pitch for the second straight day and laid down a sacrifice bunt in the eighth that kept the rally going.
The Cubs are still challenged to score, putting just 13 runs on the board in their last six games. And with the Milwaukee Brewers trying to run away with the division — they led the second-place Cubs by 8½ games entering their Saturday night game in Cincinnati — fans are on edge.
But Tucker, went to the playoffs six times in his seven seasons with the Houston Astros, still has optimism about the Cubs.
“This is a really good team regardless of how the last couple of weeks or whatever has gone,” he said. “You don’t change your course just because your losing a few games here and there.”
For the second game in a row, rookie Owen Caissie did not play.
Caissie, who had 22 home runs and 26 doubles in 93 games with Triple-A Iowa, was called up Thursday and went 0-for-4 against the Blue Jays in Toronto but has yet to see action at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs will try to avoid a fourth straight series loss Sunday when Javier Assad (0-1, 9.00 ERA) makes his second appearance of the season after returning from an oblique injury suffered in spring training.
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
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