This home run ended a game where the Cubs had gone way behind early to a really bad team.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is another repost of the game recap from a walkoff home run, this one from Chicago-area native Mike Tauchman, who grew up a Cubs fan. Once again, there will be an epilogue after the lightly-edited recap repost. This concludes this offseason series about Cubs walkoff heroes.
Mike Tauchman grew up in the Chicago suburbs and as a result, has sometimes been termed the “Palatine Pounder.” He rooted for the Cubs as a kid and teenager.
What a thrill, then, it must have been for him to hit his first career walkoff home run for his favorite team, for which he’s performed quite well the last two years. Tauchman’s blast gave the Cubs a sweep of this brief two-game series, a second straight 7-6 win over the White Sox.
Let’s begin at the beginning, and the beginning didn’t last long, as Sox left fielder Corey Julks hit Jameson Taillon’s first pitch out of the yard for a home run and a 1-0 Sox lead.
Taillon settled down after that… for a while, anyway.
The Cubs tied the game in the bottom of the first. Christopher Morel singled and stole second. About that steal:
Ian Happ grounded out with Morel taking third, and then Nico Hoerner beat out a fielder’s choice grounder, with Morel scoring [VIDEO].
As I said, Taillon had settled down, but the Sox hit him hard in the fourth inning. I’ll spare you the carnage, but six Sox singled and four runs crossed the plate before Taillon struck out Luis Robert Jr. to end the inning. The Sox led 5-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, we saw some egregiously bad umpiring with Hoerner at bat. He was called out on strikes on three straight pitches, only one of which was a strike:
Can’t blame him, and I suspect it was because TWO pitches in that at-bat were out of the zone and called strikes. Nico’s usually pretty good at strike zone judgment. Can’t wait to see the ump scorecard on this game.
Anyway, the Cubs got to work cutting that four-run deficit in the fifth. Dansby Swanson led off with a single. Yan Gomes hit the ball hard, but right at Sox third baseman Lenyn Sosa. Mike Tauchman singled Swanson to second and Seiya Suzuki’s single loaded the bases.
That left runners on first and third, and then Sox starter Erick Fedde balked in a run [VIDEO].
At 5-3, now it’s a ballgame. Porter Hodge entered to throw the sixth and issued a one-out walk, but got out of the inning with a double-play ball. The Cubs couldn’t score in the bottom of the inning, and Drew Smyly was called on to throw the seventh. With Robert due up, this didn’t seem like a great matchup, but Smyly got Nicky Lopez on a popup and Robert grounded out. Then Smyly gave up two hits, the second of which was a double — but when the double bounced into the left-field seats, Gavin Sheets had to stop at third.
The Cubs took the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Swanson was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Gomes walked. A second Sox balk moved the runners up to second and third.
That pitch to Tauchman was also ball four, so runners were now on first and third. Gomes scored on this sac fly by Bellinger to tie the game [VIDEO].
Christopher Morel then walked to put runners on first and second. During Morel’s at-bat, he had fouled a ball off his foot and had to leave the game for pinch-runner Patrick Wisdom[VIDEO].
Looks like Morel will be okay:
A late-inning lead… and then the Cubs lose it on a Sox home run. Didn’t we see this game on Tuesday? Paul DeJong, who used to hit like crazy in Wrigley Field when he was with the Cardinals, homered leading off the eighth off Hayden Wesneski. With Joey Votto currently inactive (he’s on the Blue Jays’ Triple-A injured list), DeJong’s 16th career homer at Wrigley tied him with Andrew McCutchen for the lead in homers by visiting active players at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs went down 1-2-3 in the eighth and Hector Neris threw a scoreless ninth, despite a two-out walk.
Michael Kopech entered the game for the Sox in the last of the ninth. He threw ball one to Tauchman. And then [VIDEO]…
As I said at the top of this recap, what a thrill for Tauchman, and an exciting walkoff win for the Cubs. It was their second walkoff homer this year, after Michael Busch did it in the rain against the Padres May 7.
Also, since Julks hit Taillon’s first pitch of the game for a home run, we have a rare occurrence: A game in which the first and last pitches of the game were both hit for home runs.
From BCB’s JohnW53:
Corey Julks’ homer was the 115th by the first batter for the visiting team at Wrigley Field. Pitch count is known for 71, of which 22 were the first pitch. None of the previous 21 games ended in a walk-off homer by a Cub.
However, one such game that does not have a known pitch count was flagged by Elias Sports:
So. That game was fun and entertaining and had an exciting ending, but… to be honest, this is not the greatest way for a contending team to win games, spotting the worst team in baseball a five-run, then four-run lead and then coming back to win by one. On the other hand:
The loss was the Sox’ 13th in a row, which ties their franchise record set 100 years ago, in 1924. On the other hand, the Sox players were probably up for this series, since they have little to play for this year, why not try to at least win the Crosstown Cup? I have many friends who are Sox fans and to be honest, I feel badly for them. Their team’s ownership and management has sold them a bill of goods and it’s not likely to improve any time soon. The team is a mishmash of waiver-wire players and the manager seems particularly clueless.
Nevertheless, it’s two good wins for the Cubs and combined with the Brewers getting swept in Philadelphia, the Cubs moved back to .500 and within five games of first place. There are exactly 100 games remaining in the 2024 season. You don’t think the Cubs can go 60-40 and win 91 games? I do.
EPILOGUE: No, the Cubs did not go 60-40 after this win and finish with 91 wins. They went 52-48 and for the second straight year, finished with an 83-79 record.
Tauchman was non-tendered after the season and wound up signing with the White Sox. I believe this hurt the Cubs, as they didn’t really have a suitable backup center fielder all year. Not that Tauchman is THAT good in center field, but the few games they used Vidal Bruján there…. woof. Beyond his outfield play, Tauchman is an outstanding pinch hitter, something the Cubs did not have in 2025. Cubs players praised Justin Turner for his clubhouse presence, but Tauchman is also a good clubhouse guy and would have been cheaper for the Cubs to keep than signing Turner.
The White Sox DFA’d Tauchman last month. I think the Cubs should bring him back. What do you think?
