KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The moment didn’t fully hit Patrick Wisdom until he rounded second base.
The Chicago Cubs’ dugout went nuts as soon as Wisdom made contact and started his home run trot. A fired up Pete Crow-Armstrong repeatedly slammed his hands against the dugout railing as Cody Bellinger looked on in amazement. Justin Steele stood up from his seat on the bench, raising his hands in the air.
His celebratory teammates finally caught Wisdom’s attention halfway around following his go-ahead, pinch-hit grand slam in the seventh inning Saturday against the Kansas City Royals. The Cubs tacked on two runs in the ninth for a 9-4 win.
“It was nice to see that one go out of the park hitting it so hard,” Wisdom said. “But I mean that’s just the kind of the goal of the at-bat, put the barrel on the ball and hit it hard somewhere. … At the end of the day, it’s trusting my ability, trusting my skills.”
Manager Craig Counsell called on Wisdom to pinch hit for Crow-Armstrong in the big spot in the seventh after the Royals brought in lefty Sam Long to replace starter Seth Lugo. It was an ideal moment to try to exploit the matchup, though it meant a potentially creative defensive alignment in the outfield or losing the designated hitter spot by shifting Mike Tauchman to center field.
“I didn’t really see it as a risk,” Counsell said. “I mean, in the game you’ve got to play your chips and that was the chip in that moment.”
Wisdom’s pinch-hit grand slam was the first by a Cub since David Bote’s “ultimate” grand slam Aug. 12, 2018 against the Washington Nationals at Wrigley Field. The big swing helped erase the three runs the Royals put up against lefty Shota Imanaga, who had to battle through some grinding at-bats that saw lots of foul balls over his 5 2/3 innings.
The ability to seize the moment was a testament to Wisdom staying committed to the daily work. His pinch-hit opportunity was only his 14th plate appearance in July, and Wisdom hasn’t started since July 6, one of only two in the month.
Bote, similarly, had not seen many pitches lately when Counsell went to him in the ninth with the Cubs looking to build on the three-run lead Wisdom gave them. Bote connected for a full-count RBI single to the opposite field off reliever Kris Bubic to put them ahead 8-4.
“Patrick and David, they’re preparing hard every day and then it gets hard when you don’t feel like you get opportunities,” Counsell said. “But they keep themselves ready and a night like tonight it shows.”
The pinch-hit spot was just the 15th PA for Bote this month. He, too, has not appeared in the lineup sine July 6.
“Our bench crew here, it feels like we’re all in that at-bat,” Bote said. “We all know how hard it is, we all have been in that position. So when you do it, that connection piece, you feel like you were in the box with them. … When the other guy succeeds, they’re excited for you, you’re excited for them. It’s this really cool moment as a group that we’ve kind of created the last couple of weeks.”
The Cubs (50-56) remain in an odd limbo until the trade deadline passes Tuesday. Wisdom admitted it has been a little weird not knowing how things will play out, unlike last year when their hot streak forced the front office to keep the group together. While the Cubs added a pitcher Saturday by acquiring right-hander Nate Pearson from the Toronto Blue Jays for two minor-leaguers, the clubhouse could soon look a bit different.
“Every year it’s a weird spot where you don’t know what’s going to go, it’s hard. It’s really hard,” Bote said. “And you just try to focus on the day in, day out aspect of it. But I think everybody will feel better once Tuesday at 6 p.m. comes and goes and we can get past it and let’s finish it.”
