Cubs launch five homers, tame Tigers to even series

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Jun 7, 2025

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT — The Chicago Cubs came into the game Saturday leading baseball in runs scored (360) and runs driven in (345) and were fifth in home runs (85).

And that was after Tarik Skubal and Will Vest held them in check Friday night.

It wasn’t likely they’d be so quiet again. And they weren’t.

The Cubs slugged five home runs and rode a brilliant pitching performance by Jameson Taillon to a series-evening 6-1 win over the Detroit Tigers before another packed house at Comerica Park (41,034).

Manager AJ Hinch deployed lefty Tyler Holton to open ahead of right-hander Keider Montero and the strategy did what it was intended to do. Holton was able to get lefty-swingers Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong, plus switch-hitter Ian Happ, who hits less from the right side of the plate, out.

The one snag, Holton left a 3-2 changeup over the plate to righty Seiya Suzuki and lined it over the left-field fence for his 15th homer. That seemed to set the tone for the day. Suzuki hit No. 16 in the eighth inning against reliever Chase Lee.

Montero allowed five hits over the next 5 2/3 innings. Three of them left the yard.

Michael Busch (10) hit a two-run shot in the fifth. Crow-Armstrong (17) and Matt Shaw (3) both homered in the seventh.

Meanwhile, Taillon had the Tigers’ hitters in the proverbial rocking chair, allowing just three hits in seven innings. He was mixing mainly four-seam fastballs and changeups, exploiting the Tigers’ aggressiveness and getting a lot of weak contact early in counts.

He got five whiffs on 17 fastballs, seven whiffs on 14 changeups. The Tigers put 19 balls in play against Taillon with a meek average exit velocity of 83.8 mph. He got through his seven innings in an economical 84 pitches.

Taillon struck out five, three of those were Riley Greene. Greene struck out in all four of his at-bats and had six swings and misses. Greene has struck out 88 times this season, most in baseball.

The lone run came on the swift legs of Zach McKinstry. He legged out a triple on a liner into the right-field corner in the fifth and he beat the throw home from third baseman Shaw on a high bouncer by Jake Rogers.

Since scoring 13 runs against the Chicago White Sox on Monday, the Tigers have managed 12 in the last five games combined.

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