Michael Conforto Hits Walkoff Homer in Cubs' 5-4 Win
michael conforto ended it in the bottom of the ninth, driving a pinch-hit walkoff home run to lift the Cubs over the Reds 5-4 on Monday at Wrigley Field. The win kept Chicago's 11-game home streak alive in a game that had already been pushed back because of rainy weather.
Conforto Delivers at Wrigley Field
The Cubs had to wait until 7:50 to start after moving the scheduled first pitch from 6:40 p.m. to 6:10 p.m., then had to wait even longer for the finish. Conforto supplied it with one swing, turning a 4-4 game into a 5-4 finish on his pinch-hit homer.
Chicago first tied it in the ninth when Pete Crow-Armstrong tripled off the center-field wall and Nico Hoerner followed with a sacrifice fly. That set the stage for Conforto, who came off the bench and finished the game before the inning could turn any further.
Reds Take the Lead First
Cincinnati had taken the lead in the eighth inning when Nathaniel Lowe drew a walk from Ben Brown, Blake Dunn came on as a pinch-runner and stole second, and Spencer Steer singled him home. That put the Cubs behind late and left them needing a response against a Reds team that entered Monday with a winning record.
Craig Counsell had pointed before the game to the depth in Cincinnati's lineup, saying, "Going into the season, just spring training looks and stuff, I thought they had the potential to certainly score," "Sal Stewart is a young hitter who's off to the start I think we expected him to get off to. He's just a really young, talented hitter." "(Elly) De la Cruz had a rough second half last year, but is kind of back to being himself. So that's two, very, very dangerous hitters in the middle of their lineup."
NL Central Tightens Up
The result carried extra weight because all five NL Central teams had winning records heading into Monday, a setup that had never happened since MLB split into six divisions in 1994. Before this game, there had been 16 games played among NL Central teams, and every one had included Pittsburgh, leaving the Cubs 1-2 in division games because their only series had been against the Pirates.
Monday also offered a rare full-division snapshot, with Cincinnati visiting Wrigley Field and St. Louis hosting Milwaukee. The Cubs' finish did more than protect a home streak; it kept them in the middle of a division race that has already separated itself from the standard early-season pattern.
For Chicago, the immediate result is simple: a 5-4 win, another home victory, and a division game that ended with the bat rather than extra innings. For Cincinnati, the ninth-inning lead disappeared quickly, and the Reds left Wrigley having watched a late advantage turn into a loss.
