Seiya

Suzuki

The Cubs scored 23 runs for the first time since 1995, and their eight homers tied a franchise record. Suzuki’s long ball came before this became a blowout, and it was the 100th of his career. He’s now the fourth Japanese-born player to hit that mark, joining Ichiro, Hideki Matsui, and Shohei Ohtani.

In a game tied 2-2, the Cubs started the bottom of the ninth with two singles before the Padres brought in Mason Miller. Alex Bregman singled to load the bases before a double play put the Padres an out away from forcing extra innings. Seiya Suzuki had other ideas as he hit a fly ball to left field that Jase Bowen couldn’t catch up against the ivy. Suzuki’s RBI single put the exclamation point on the Cubs’ walk-off win. He’s hitting.266 with a .799 OPS and 39 RBI this year.

Suzuki broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning when he took Jacob Misiorowski deep for his 11th homer of the season. He was responsible for both runs the Cubs scored on the night, with his second RBI coming on a sacrifice fly that brought home Pete Crow-Armstrong in the eighth inning. Suzuki is slashing .300/.398/.543 this month and has seen nine of his 21 hits go for extra bases.

The 31-year-old slugger played both halves of Wednesday’s doubleheader and recently battled some knee issues, so giving him a breather makes complete sense here. Michael Conforto will start in his place in right field and bat second for the Cubs against Mets’ right-hander Freddy Peralta on Thursday evening in New York.

It’s an encouraging development to see Suzuki ready to roll, and likely to avoid a trip to the injured list, after being scratched from Sunday’s series finale against the Giants with right knee discomfort that resurfaced earlier in the weekend. He’s at DH and hitting cleanup on Monday night at Wrigley Field. The 31-year-old slugger missed time earlier this season with a PCL sprain in his right knee so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Chicago manage his workload carefully in the coming days. He’s in the midst of a 10-game hitting streak that dates back to June 3.

The Cubs had planned on having Suzuki return to the lineup on Sunday after exiting on Saturday due to discomfort in his right knee. They opted to err on the side of caution though and decided to give him an extra day off. He’s still considered day-to-day.

Suzuki already missed the first two weeks of the season with a PCL sprain in the same knee. Matt Shaw replaced him tonight and would join Michael Conforto in line for additional playing time if Suzuki needs to go back on the IL.

Suzuki’s homer off Ryan Feltner, which gave the Cubs their first runs of the day in the fourth, was his 10th of the year. He has three homers during an eight-game hitting streak in which he’s had exactly one hit each game. He’s batting .248/.332/.421 with 26 RBI through 55 games.

He also added three walks. Suzuki’s doubles have evaporated this year -- he has just five in 182 at-bats -- but he’s still hitting homers at his 2025 pace and fantasy managers who aren’t in slugging percentage leagues probably don’t mind if he wants to focus exclusively on the long ball.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine breather for the 31-year-old slugger. Suzuki has seen his production fall off following a brilliant 2025 campaign, slashing just .239/.324/.400 with eight homers and 20 RBI through his first 204 plate appearances on the season. Michael Conforto will take his place in right field and bat second for the Cubs against A’s right-hander J.T. Ginn.