{"id":224511,"date":"2026-04-09T07:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/224511\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T07:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:28:08","slug":"3-takeaways-from-the-chicago-cubs-series-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/224511\/","title":{"rendered":"3 takeaways from the Chicago Cubs’ series win"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Michael Conforto<\/a> thought he had connected on a grand slam for his first home run with the Chicago Cubs.<\/p>\n

Instead, Conforto\u2019s 414-foot barreled ball in the fifth inning Wednesday slammed off the center-field wall just beyond the outstretched glove of the Tampa Bay Rays\u2019 leaping center fielder Jonny DeLuca. Conforto settled for a two-run double with a third run scoring when Dansby Swanson raced home as the Rays committed two errors on the relay. Conforto sparked a five-run frame in the Cubs\u2019 6-2 win on Wednesday to take the series<\/a> and move back to .500 (6-6).<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I got it,\u201d Conforto said. \u201cIt\u2019s a little embarrassing. Just watched it, walked out of the box. He almost caught it, too, so I\u2019m glad he didn\u2019t catch it. But it\u2019s a good swing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manager Craig Counsell called the contact they got from Conforto (three hits, three RBIs, two walks) in the last two games an important development. Conforto felt he had been late getting ready to hit and having his hands set, contributing to starting the year with five strikeouts in his first nine at-bats.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Cubs’ Michael Conforto watches his two-run double off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Joe Boyle during the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo\/Chris O’Meara)<\/p>\n

\u201cAdding another position player and another left-handed bat to something that we can mix and match based on pitching matchups is going to make us more successful and more offensive as the year goes on,\u201d Counsell said after the game.<\/p>\n

Conforto getting more locked in helped the Cubs take the series against the Rays. There are three other key takeaways in the Cubs\u2019 series performance.<\/p>\n

1. Nico Hoerner showing slug.
\n\"ChicagoChicago Cubs’ Nico Hoerner celebrates his solo home run off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Joe Boyle with third base coach Quintin Berry (0) during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo\/Chris O’Meara)<\/p>\n

It took until late June for Nico Hoerner<\/a> to finally slug his first home run of the season in the Chicago Cubs\u2019 79th game last year.<\/p>\n

Hoerner needed just 12 games to launch his first long ball of the 2026 campaign by sending a 1-2 sweeper from Tampa Bay\u2019s right-hander Joe Boyle over the left field fence for a leadoff home run in the Cubs\u2019 6-2 win on Wednesday at Tropicana Field to secure a series victory.<\/p>\n

Hoerner also recorded an RBI double in the Cubs\u2019 five-run fifth inning, part of a three-hit night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re well aware as players things that we don\u2019t do at a high level or things that we can do better, and it\u2019s part of my game that I don\u2019t do it at a high level, but what do you do with that?\u201d Hoerner said after the win. \u201cAnd for me, I\u2019ve had stretches where I\u2019ve thought of hitting for power as taking chances and big swings, and I think that\u2019s taken me away from some of my strengths and has honestly been a little sloppy and not the best version of myself. But I also don\u2019t regret those times because I think it\u2019s all part of figuring out who you are as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoerner already has six doubles this year after tallying 29 a season ago. His extra-base hit percentage (XBH%) currently sits at 13.2%, well above the 6.4% he averaged the previous four years. Expecting Hoerner to maintain that level of XBH% over the course of this season isn\u2019t realistic, but the Cubs have seen a shift in his ability to hit for more slug dating to the final weeks of last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHitting for power isn\u2019t necessarily hitting home runs for me,\u201d Hoerner said. \u201cI\u2019m not going into at-bats trying to hit home runs. But I do want to get pitches that I can drive. I want to hit balls hard on high line drives, preferably to the pull side in the air, but not getting away from the things that make myself, myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Colin Rea delivering as usual in an important role.
\n\"ChicagoChicago Cubs pitcher Colin Rea delivers to the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo\/Chris O’Meara)<\/p>\n

Less than a week ago, the Cubs weren\u2019t anticipating Javier Assad<\/a> and Colin Rea<\/a> making starts in Tampa.<\/p>\n

Injuries to Matthew Boyd and Cade Horton<\/a> forced the Cubs to pivot and rely on their depth, and the two right-handers delivered against the Rays. Assad and Rea combined to allow just one run and five hits in 10 2\/3 innings. Their composure on little notice impressed but didn\u2019t surprise their teammates. This isn\u2019t the first time each has shown he can deliver in tough circumstances.<\/p>\n

For Rea, he again becomes valuable to the rotation with Horton out for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being ready for anything,\u201d Rea said after Wednesday\u2019s win. \u201cBeing prepared for whatever role that may be, and guys are going to have to step up and fill those roles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Counsell believes Rea\u2019s low, steady heartbeat is a strength of the veteran\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not going to let the situation change him,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019d give you this effort if he\u2019s pitching in a beer league game on Tuesday night in Iowa \u2014 that\u2019s what he\u2019d give you. So that\u2019s just Colin, and that\u2019s what we love about him and respect about him.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Offensive shows what it can be.
\n\"CarsonCarson Kelly of the Chicago Cubs hits a double in the fifth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on April 8, 2026, in St Petersburg, Fla. (Julio Aguilar\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Cubs know their lineup is capable of beating teams in a variety of ways offensively.<\/p>\n

Their back-to-back wins against the Rays showed that any hitter in the lineup is capable of delivering big hits. After managing only 11 runs and 19 in their first four games of the road trip, the Cubs put up 15 runs and 24 hits in the last two games versus Tampa Bay. Playing in the Rays\u2019 domed ballpark certainly helped after dealing with varying weather and temperatures during their first nine games of the season.<\/p>\n

For as much as the Cubs didn\u2019t panic when the offense didn\u2019t produce as they envisioned at the onset of the season, the group knows what they\u2019re capable of when the lineup gets rolling. Hoerner described their offensive numbers the last two days as \u201csuper uplifting\u201d and said it\u2019s always a big deal when the entire lineup clicks. The Cubs hope it\u2019s the start of the offense having more games where they can carry the pitching staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new team every year, no matter how many guys you bring back,\u201d catcher Carson Kelly told the Tribune. \u201cTeams are going to go through this. There\u2019s going to be some ups and downs. It felt, these last couple of days, it felt like a lot of the games we played last year. You could feel the energy. You can feel it. And winning is contagious.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 Michael Conforto thought he had connected on a grand slam for his first home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[101472,24229,100912,101087,101471,3823,100185,202,204,203,199,201,200,3815],"class_list":{"0":"post-224511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-carson-kelly","9":"tag-chicago-cubs","10":"tag-colin-rea","11":"tag-craig-counsell","12":"tag-michael-conforto","13":"tag-mlb-baseball","14":"tag-nico-hoerner","15":"tag-st-pete","16":"tag-st-pete-headlines","17":"tag-st-pete-news","18":"tag-st-petersburg","19":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","20":"tag-st-petersburg-news","21":"tag-tampa-bay-rays"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}