With their playoff hopes flagging and the potential for selling at the trade deadline looming, the Cubs have longed for more production out of the top of their lineup.
Ian Happ’s home run Monday looked like a glimmer of hope after a monthslong power outage, and Seiya Suzuki’s four-hit outburst Tuesday looked and felt like a breakthrough. And pressed into shortstop duty by an injury to Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner’s three-hit night at the end of Tuesday’s rout was something manager David Ross hoped could carry over.
