Michael Busch broke through in the third inning Wednesday, and the Cubs kept rolling. Busch hit his first home run of the 2026 season to put Chicago ahead for good in a 7-2 victory over the Phillies, the club’s eighth consecutive win.
The homer came in Busch’s 95th plate appearance of the year and gave the Cubs a two-run lead after the game had been tied in the second inning. Miguel Amaya reached second on a Phillies defensive misplay, then Pete Crow-Armstrong doubled to bring him home before Seiya Suzuki also homered for Chicago.
Busch entered the game without a homer this season after leading the Cubs with 34 last year and adding eight more in eight postseason games. He had been struggling at the plate, but Wednesday gave Chicago the kind of lift that has turned an early stretch into a winning run. On a night when the Phillies dropped their eighth straight, the Cubs paired timely power with steady pitching and never gave the lead back.
Matthew Boyd handled the start with 84 pitches, 56 of them strikes, while not issuing a walk and striking out five. Ben Brown followed with 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out five more, a clean bridge from one pitcher to the next that let the offense settle the game. Chicago has now won eight in a row while Busch’s bat, which carried the club a year ago, has started to come alive again.