It was all going well for the Chicago White Sox. Then, Mike Tauchman decided that he wanted to make some noise. Up until that point, the outfielder for the Chicago Cubs had been relatively quiet. All of that remained true until Pedro Grifol's squad allowed him to gain some momentum by walking around bases. Then, he decided to turn it up a notch. The result? A hard-hitting walk-off against Michael Kopech led the Cubs to a seven-to-six come-from-behind win.
This impressive Cubs win due to Mike Tauchman's heroics gave the White Sox their 13th-straight loss. This now equals their longest losing streak in franchise history, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
Mike Tauchman was not supposed to be in the situation. The Cubs elected to call him up after Cody Bellinger suffered an injury in the middle of their campaign. Before that, he was in Korea and in the minors. Now, he got the opportunity to shine and those rays of light that he emitted at Wrigley Field gave Pedro Grifol a massive headache.
CHICAGO'S OWN MIKE TAUCHMAN WALKS IT OFF!
The Cubs outfielder faced 25 pitches throughout the night. But, it was in the seventh inning that he got on a streak. He got Michael Soroka to throw six fouls which led to 11 walks. All of these were juiced and used such that the Cubs could net three runs to spark their much-needed comeback.
In the end, it was just Tauchman and Michael Kopech. The White Sox pitcher has developed a reputation for launching extreme fastballs. He anticipated this as he took a pitch while Michael Kopech threw for an insane 98.4 miles per hour. There was nothing else he could do but swing and absolutely launch it to the moon. There was a brief moment when Cubs fans held their breaths. But, as they saw the ball go higher than the nets, the celebrations started.
The Cubs being the ones to give their rivals from the southside their 13th loss is quite poetic. Tauchman, someone who resided in the northwest of Illinois, being the person to walk them off made it even sweeter.
Cubs outfielder lives his dream
It was a rough road for Tauchman before he even reached the Cubs. He just wanted to get back into the majors but his performance got him here. There were a lot of emotions and fatigue coursing through him but he could not help but unveil how great he felt after this win against Pedro Grifol's squad.
“I think every kid dreams of hitting a walk-off homer. So to have that moment, it’s special. It’s something that, when it’s all said and done, I’ll look back on it and I'll always have that and be able to smile about it,” he said.
Tauchman even recalled how intense that final swing against Kopech was.
“I think every kid dreams of hitting a walk-off homer. So to have that moment, it’s special. It’s something that, when it’s all said and done, I’ll look back on it and I'll always have that and be able to smile about it,” he concluded.
The Cubs are now at .500 and are slowly creeping up to the Milwaukee Brewers. Hopefully, they can keep this streak going.
