Cubs Stat of the Day: June 2021

June 30th, 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Cubs this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

June 30: Brewers 15, Cubs 7 -- Short starts by Cubs arms
The two abbreviated starts in Milwaukee by Jake Arrieta (1 2/3 innings on June 30) and Zach Davies (four innings on June 29) gave the Cubs 31 instances through 81 games this season that Chicago pulled its starter before completing five innings. Per team historian Ed Hartig, that is a club-record pace for the North Siders. The top two marks for sub-five inning starts in a season for Chicago are 55 (1948) and 52 (1958), and those came in a 154-game season. For comparison, the 2016 Cubs only had 14 such starts in their World Series-champion campaign.

June 29: Brewers 2, Cubs 1 -- Wisdom hitting well in June
The Cubs' lone run came courtesy of an RBI double off the bat of Patrick Wisdom. With his showing in Milwaukee, Wisdom improves his slugging percentage to a team-leading .606 in June with one game remaining in the month.

June 28: Brewers 14, Cubs 4 -- Cubs give up 10 in the eighth
The Cubs and Brewers locked horns in a close contest until the eighth inning, when Chicago's pitching staff surrendered 10 runs. According to Cubs historian Ed Hartig, it marked only the third time in franchise history that the North Siders gave up at least 10 runs in an eighth inning. That also happened on July 30, 2010 (12 at Colorado), and on April 29, 1960 (10 at St. Louis).

June 27: Dodgers 7, Cubs 1 -- Báez hits it hard
Javier Báez provided the lone run for the Cubs with his 18th home run of the season. Báez launched the homer in the fourth inning for a Statcast-projected 391 feet. It was the second-hardest-hit ball of the game with an exit velocity of 106.9 mph.

June 26: Dodgers 3, Cubs 2 -- Three-hit game for Heyward
Jason Heyward has been on a tear the past week, highlighted by his first three-hit game of the season. Heyward went 3-for-4 with a double and two singles. It was the outfielder's 66th career three-hit game since his debut season in 2010.

June 25: Dodgers 6, Cubs 2 -- Bullpen's streak ends at 37 games
Over the course of 37 games, Chicago's bullpen did not take a losing decision. The streak ended Friday as the bullpen combined for four earned runs, coming off a pair of two-run homers in the eighth inning. Ryan Tepera was tagged with his first loss of the season after allowing the go-ahead homer in one-third of an inning.

June 24: Cubs 4, Dodgers 0 -- Making no-hit history
The Cubs' combined no-hitter was the seventh in baseball this season, tying the Modern Era (since 1900) AL/NL record, also done in 2015, 2012, 1991 and 1990. The overall record is eight in 1884, but it is worth noting that season was before the mound was even moved to its current distance, which happened in 1893. The Cubs became the first opposing team to throw two no-hitters at Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962 and is the second-oldest National League park, behind Wrigley Field. Prior to Thursday, the last no-hitter thrown by an opponent at Dodger Stadium was also by the Cubs when Jake Arrieta blanked the Dodgers on Aug. 30, 2015.

June 22: Cubs 7, Indians 1 -- More like Kyle Win-dricks
With his win over Cleveland, Cubs righty Kyle Hendricks picked up his eighth straight win in eight starts. He is the first Cubs pitcher to win eight starts in a row within the same season since Jake Arrieta achieved the feat from Aug. 4-Sept. 11, 2015, when he went 8-0 with a 0.46 ERA as part of his NL Cy Young Award-winning season. In Hendricks' last eight starts, he has gone 8-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 40 strikeouts against seven walks in 52 innings. Hendricks has lowered his season ERA to 3.84 from 6.23 in that span of outings.

June 21: Indians 4, Cubs 0 -- Bryant's amazing grab
Kris Bryant is in the running to start at third base for the National League All-Star team, but he showed off his skill as an outfielder against Cleveland. With two outs in the fifth inning, Cesar Hernandez sent a fly ball to center field, where Bryant got the start on this night for the Cubs. Per Statcast, this particular ball in play came with a 35 percent catch probability for Bryant, but he pulled off a highlight-reel grab with a diving catch before the baseball could find the outfield grass.

June 20: Cubs 2, Marlins 0 -- Kimbrel keeps climbing saves chart
With his clean ninth, Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel notched his 20th save of the season. That also gave him 368 saves in his career, putting the veteran stopper into a tie with Jonathan Papelbon for ninth on MLB's all-time list. Joe Nathan is next with 377 career saves. Kimbrel is the fourth Cubs pitcher to reach at least 20 saves in the team's first 72 games, joining Randy Myers (22 in 1993 and 21 in '95), Bruce Sutter (21 in '77) and Lee Smith (20 in '87).

June 19: Marlins 11, Cubs 1 -- Javy's arm makes up for bobble
In the first inning, shortstop Javier Báez showed off his arm strength after initially mishandling a sharp grounder off the bat of Jesús Sánchez. Báez quickly recovered and retrieved the baseball and fired a 92-mph throw, per Statcast, to first baseman Anthony Rizzo for an inning-ending out. That marked the hardest throw of the 2021 season for the Cubs' Gold Glove-winning shortstop and the ninth-hardest throw of his career.

June 18: Marlins 10, Cubs 2 -- Joc's two shots
Joc Pederson launched a home run in each of his first two at-bats, marking his 17th career multihomer performance. The blasts were 113.6 mph and 112.2 mph, per Statcast. It was the first time in Pederson's career that he had two homers of at least 112 mph off the bat. It also marked the first time a Cubs batter achieved that feat during the Statcast era (since 2015). The 113.6-mph shot in the first inning was the third-hardest homer of Pederson's career.

June 17: Cubs 2, Mets 0 -- Saving the day
Craig Kimbrel recorded his 19th save of 2021, giving him 367 in his career. That moved him into a tie for 10th place on the all-time saves list with Jeff Reardon, while his next save will move Kimbrel -- who is the active career saves leader -- into a ninth-place tie with Jonathan Papelbon.

June 16: Mets 6, Cubs 3 -- Cubs debuts for battery
Right-hander Robert Stock and catcher Jose Lobaton made their Cubs debuts on Wednesday. The last time the Cubs had a starting pitcher and a starting catcher making their team debuts in the same game was on April 29, 1995. Right-hander Jaime Navarro and catcher Todd Pratt started in the Cubs' 5-4 win over the Expos at Wrigley Field.

June 15: Mets 3, Cubs 2 -- Báez blasting homers
Infielder Javier Báez has 15 home runs and 42 RBIs in 58 games this season. He had eight homers and 24 RBIs in 59 games in 2020.

June 14: Mets 5, Cubs 2 -- Another piece of Wisdom
Third baseman Patrick Wisdom has nine home runs in his first 20 games. Only Hank Sauer (10 in 1954) has topped that in franchise history.

June 13: Cubs 2, Cardinals 0 -- Davies' stingy homer rate
Zach Davies worked 6 2/3 shutout innings against the Cardinals, lowering his stingy homer rate to 0.53 per nine innings. The last time Davies yielded a homer was on May 18, when Starlin Castro took him deep. Heading into this game, Davies ranked sixth in the National League (min. 60 innings) in homers per nine innings, trailing Corbin Burnes (0.28), Taijuan Walker (0.30), Jacob deGrom (0.42), Wade Miley (0.44) and Trevor Rogers (0.48).

June 12: Cubs 7, Cardinals 2 -- Joc times three
Joc Pederson's fourth-inning blast against the Cardinals marked the third game in a row that the Cubs outfielder connected for a home run. He joined Willson Contreras (April 13-17) as the only Cubs players to homer in three straight games this season. The last Cubs hitter to do so in four consecutive games was Anthony Rizzo (July 29-Aug. 1, 2015). The franchise record is five, achieved by Sammy Sosa (1998), Ryne Sandberg (1989) and Hack Wilson (1928).

June 11: Cubs 8, Cardinals 5 -- Rizzo's marathon at-bat
Anthony Rizzo wowed the full-capacity crowd at Wrigley Field with a grueling 14-pitch battle with St. Louis righty Daniel Ponce de Leon. When the Cubs first baseman ended the at-bat with a homer, it marked the longest plate appearance ending with a homer by a Cubs batter in the pitch tracking era (since 1988). It was tied for the longest at-bat to end in a homer in the past decade, and the longest since Ryan Braun also had a 14-pitch at-bat end in a homer for the Brewers on Aug. 1, 2012.

June 9: Cubs 3, Padres 1 -- Shutdown 'pen
After a solid start by Jake Arrieta, the bullpen trio of Rex Brothers, Ryan Tepera and Craig Kimbrel combined to face the minimum over four frames. Together, they struck out five without allowing a hit or issuing a walk. The Cubs lowered their bullpen ERA to 2.70 on the season (second in MLB behind only San Diego). Chicago also improved to 29-0 when holding a lead going into the eighth and 30-0 when holding a lead entering the ninth in 2021.

June 8: Cubs 7, Padres 1 -- Powerful Wisdom
Patrick Wisdom's one-day power outage ended in the sixth inning, when he belted a two-run homer off Miguel Diaz. It gave Wisdom seven homers in a nine-game span, making him the first Cubs batter to do that since Kris Bryant also had seven in a nine-game stretch from Aug. 18-27, 2016. The record for Chicago is 10 homers in a nine-game stretch, which was achieved twice by Sammy Sosa in his famous 66-homer season in 1998.

June 7: Padres 9, Cubs 4 -- Marisnick's multihit return
After being activated from the injured list, center fielder Jake Marisnick returned to the Cubs with a two-hit performance against the Padres. That included an infield single that led to two runs (helped by a throwing error by San Diego). Going back to April 20, Marisnick has hit at a .310 clip (13-for-42) in 17 games for Chicago. He hit just .200 in the previous 11 games to start this season.

June 6: Giants 4, Cubs 3 -- Wisdom just keeps hitting
Patrick Wisdom followed up Saturday's home run with a pair of blasts in Sunday's game in San Francisco. That gave him six homers in his past seven games. It also gave Wisdom seven homers in his first eight starts for the Cubs. That put Wisdom alongside Trevor Story (2016 for the Rockies) and Aristides Aquino (2019 for the Reds) as the only players on record with as many as seven homers in his first eight starts with a team, per the Elias Sports Bureau. Wisdom also tied a Cubs mark with seven homers in his first 15 games with the team. Donnie Murphy also achieved that feat in 2013.

June 5: Giants 4, Cubs 3 -- Wisdom making history
Patrick Wisdom launched a two-run homer in the second, giving him five shots on the season. That marks the most homers by a Cubs player in his first seven career starts with the franchise. Wisdom's .906 slugging percentage dating back to last season is also the highest for a Cubs hitter in his first 14 games with the team (min. 20 at-bats). Second on that list is Donnie Murphy, who had an .854 SLG in his first 14 games for Chicago in 2013.

June 4: Giants 8, Cubs 5 -- Bryant's barrage vs. LHP continues
Kris Bryant's 13th home run of the season came in the first inning off Giants lefty Scott Kazmir. That gave the Cubs star a National League-leading seven blasts off lefties on the year. When the evening was over, Bryant had improved his season slash line against left-handers to .408/.482/.939 through 49 at-bats.

June 3: Giants 7, Cubs 2 -- Joc's splash shot
Joc Pederson has been a familiar foe for Giants fans from his years spent with the Dodgers. Now with the Cubs, the outfielder continued his Bay Area torment with a towering third-inning home run to right that splashed into McCovey Cove. The homer was Pederson's second career shot into the water outside Oracle Park, with his previous splash hit having come with Los Angeles on June 12, 2016.

Per Statcast, Pederson's latest homer soared a projected 427 feet (his longest of the season).

June 2: Cubs 5, Padres 1 -- Alzolay's stingy streak
Adbert Alzolay limited the Padres to one run over five innings to help seal a series sweep, but it also continued an impressive streak for the pitcher. The righty has allowed no more than three runs in nine consecutive outings. That is the longest such streak within one season for a Cubs starting pitcher since lefty Cole Hamels also did so over nine straight outings from Aug. 1-Sept. 14, 2018. Yu Darvish had 11 games in a row with no more than three runs relinquished across the 2019-20 seasons.

June 1: Cubs 4, Padres 3 -- Wisdom in rare company
Patrick Wisdom's two-run homer against the Padres gave him three blasts in two games and four in the first eight games with the Cubs this season. The infielder appeared in two games for Chicago in 2020, giving him four homers in his first 10 games with the ballclub. It marks the 17th time in Cubs history (since 1901) that a player has launched at least four homers in his first 10 games with the team. The record is five (accomplished four times).