Dansby Swanson powered the Cubs in the opener of a split doubleheader, going deep twice—including a grand slam—as Chicago surged past the Mets 10-3. The win snapped a tough stretch and pushed the Cubs to five games over .500 for the first time since May 30.
The Mets held an early sense of control, stepping in front 3-0 on Javier Assad with a fourth-inning homering sequence.
But by the time the Cubs finished answering, the script had flipped hard. Chicago scored again and again behind Swanson’s power surge and took the opener of the split doubleheader from New York by a final score of 10-3.
Dansby Swanson supplied the loudest swing in a night of heavy contact. He homered twice, including a grand slam, and drove in seven runs. It was the Cubs’ eighth win in their last 11 games.
Assad had looked steady early, matching Nolan McLean with zeroes over the first three innings, but he ran into trouble in the second with a couple of walks. He got out of it with a double play and then struck out former Cub Jared Young.
The Mets finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth. After a single by Bo Bichette, Young homered. Francisco Alvarez followed with a long ball, and suddenly it was 3-0 Mets.
The Cubs didn’t let that lead settle. With two out in the top of the fifth, Pete Crow-Armstrong singled. Michael Conforto doubled him in to make it 3-1.
One batter later, Michael Busch took only two pitches and tied the game with a home run.
As the inning continued to turn into a broader turning point. Busch’s homer kept rolling into season context: it was his fifth-inning home run that made the Cubs’ total 93 of the year. with it also marking the 12th homer that tied the score. The write-up tracking Busch’s production noted his fifth-inning shot was the Cubs’ fourth tying homer with a runner on base. and the timing of those tied games landed between May 4 and May 17. The last four tying homers had come with the bases empty.
The Cubs’ power didn’t stop there. Swanson’s three-run homer later put the game in a position Chicago could protect.
Before that. though. there was another burst of explanation for what made this offense different: the Cubs have hit 25 go-ahead homers. And while the damage across the lineup included multiple big moments. the three-run blasts were the only ones recorded by Conforto and Suzuki—an indication of how specific the damage was when it arrived.
Assad finished five innings, allowing five hits and three runs. The piece of the outing that stood out most was how limited his mistake-making looked—“the only mistakes” were described as the home-run balls.
The night also carried a rare statistical flare-up for Assad: his start was the first by a Cub since 1901 of exactly 5.0 innings in which the pitcher gave up three runs on five hits. walked two and struck out five. The coverage also compared that to Ferguson Jenkins. who had two games with all the same criteria except Jenkins’ two walks came more than three months apart—May 20 and Aug 23. 1983—both at home vs. the Reds, and in both Jenkins walked none. Sixteen Cubs had starts with all the criteria but not five strikeouts; the most recent was Edwin Jackson at home vs. the Pirates on June 20, 2014, when he struck out eight, the most among those 16. Chris Volstead had six strikeouts on April 9, 2012, vs. the Brewers, and he was the only other pitcher in that group with more than four.
Chicago finally took the lead in the top of the sixth. With one out, Nico Hoerner doubled. One out later, Miguel Amaya singled, and Hoerner stopped at third. Then Swanson delivered—smashing a three-run homer.
After that, the late innings belonged to the bullpen. Ryan Rolison threw a scoreless sixth, and Caleb Thielbar—described as having scuffled lately—threw a scoreless seventh.
The Cubs put it away in the eighth. Ian Happ and Hoerner led off the inning with walks. Pedro Ramirez laid down a successful sac bunt, moving runners to second and third. Then Miguel Amaya was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
From there, Chicago unloaded those bases and widened the margin to end the suspense.
For Swanson, this wasn’t just another homer night. It was his second seven-RBI game of his career and his first as a Cub. It was also his fourth career grand slam and his second as a Cub, with the first coming on Aug. 26, 2024, at Pittsburgh.
This season. the grand slam was the Cubs’ fourth and the third in two weeks: after Seiya Suzuki on June 11 at Colorado. and after Carson Kelly on June 19 at home vs. the Blue Jays. The Cubs hit five last year. Swanson’s was noted as the last of six homers in 2024. Since 1876, the Cubs have hit 365 in the regular season and since 1901 they’ve hit 341.
The story also highlighted a rarity that has Cubs fans paying attention to what’s next: on the Marquee broadcast. Swanson was described as the third Cub to have both a three-run homer and a grand slam in the same game. The others were Kyle Schwarber on July 28, 2019, against the Brewers, and Derrek Lee on July 2, 2009, also against the Brewers.
By the time the series moved to Game 2. the numbers pointed to momentum in Swanson’s swing and in the team’s approach. Through the game of last Tuesday against the Rockies, Swanson had been batting .175/.281/.306. Over his last five games since then. he produced .444/.500/1.222. going 8-for-18 with two doubles. four home runs. 14 RBI and just two strikeouts. That run raised his season batting average to .194 and his season OPS to .670.
Tyler Ferguson, called up as the 27th man for the doubleheader, finished with two scoreless innings.
Still. even with the offense finding another gear. the day carried a warning flag: the injury to Ben Brown was described as yet another blow to a starting rotation that has had almost nothing but injuries this year. The Cubs have to scramble to find starting pitchers after Thursday. when Matthew Boyd returns from an IL stint. and after Friday. when Colin Rea is scheduled to go against the Brewers. The only consolation offered was simple—if the offense keeps clicking like this. wins may be possible even through a rotation that’s forced to cobble itself together.
After this opener, the Cubs were now five games over .500 for the first time since May 30. They’ve gone 10-10 since that date—“not great,” but better than their previous 20 games before that, which went 5-15. The current stretch is trending in the right direction.
Game 2 is set for later today with a new matchup and a new kind of question: can the Cubs keep turning their early deficits into late wins, or will the Mets find their way back in the series?
For the nightcap, Shōta Imanaga (LHP) is scheduled to face Sean Manaea (LHP).
Imanaga’s recent arc has been described in three phases. In phase 1—his first nine starts—he had 54.1 IP with a 2.32 ERA, 0.906 WHIP and 2.82 FIP, with five HR allowed. In phase 2—his next four starts—he logged 21.2 IP with a 10.80 ERA, a 1.521 WHIP and 10.16 FIP, allowing 12 HR. Then in phase 3—his next two starts—he produced 10.2 IP with a 0.84 ERA, 0.938 WHIP and 2.06 FIP, with no HR allowed.
The preview notes that those last two starts came against the Rockies, and while Colorado is framed as “awful” in this coverage, it also points out that the team does have some decent hitters—and that Imanaga got out of Coors Field without allowing a home run.
Imanaga’s last start vs. the Mets came on Sept. 25, 2025 at Wrigley Field, and the write-up cautions readers not to look at that boxscore.
His history against New York includes three times total, with one seven-inning scoreless outing at Citi Field in 2024. The coverage also states his career ERA in those three starts is 10.34, implying the other start(s) didn’t go well.
The hope, then, is that Imanaga channels the 2024 start today.
Manaea’s setup with the Mets has also shifted this year. The preview describes him as mostly a reliever until he was moved into the rotation replacing David Peterson, because Peterson had been mostly awful.
Two Manaea starts are framed as promising: he has four earned runs in 11.1 innings, and he has allowed only one home run in two games against pretty good hitting teams, with opponents named as the Braves and Phillies.
There’s also a personal angle for Manaea against Chicago. He threw four innings against the Cubs on April 17 at Wrigley Field. That day, he entered when the Cubs were ahead 7-3. When he was done, the Cubs led 12-4—and the coverage says among other things he served up a two-run homer to Ian Happ.
The ask for Manaea today is straightforward: “More like that today, please.”
Tonight’s game is scheduled on Marquee Sports Network and is also on MLB Network outside the Cubs and Mets market territories.
As for logistics and discussion, the day’s preview included a note that at the time the recap was written, lineups for the nightcap weren’t available, so readers were told to check BCB social media for the lineups.
Game 2’s full procedure for discussion was also spelled out: the 2026 game discussion procedure has changed. The game preview will be posted two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games). and a StoryStream titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads” will post on the front page with every post related to that particular game. A Live!. thread (formerly “First Pitch”) will still post at five
minutes to game time and will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also be posted on the front page as separate posts. The preview, Live!. thread. recap and Heroes and Goats will be found in the relevant section link. and each game’s StoryStream will be findable in that section too. Fans were asked to discuss amongst themselves and keep community interaction respectful on the
Mets’ Amazin’ Avenue site.
For now, though, the emotion belongs to the opening game—where Swanson’s two homers turned a 3-0 Mets lead into a 10-3 Cubs win and moved this team’s momentum into the kind of place where a second game feels like it could swing the whole day.
Cubs vs Mets Dansby Swanson Nolan McLean Javier Assad Michael Busch Michael Conforto Francisco Alvarez Bo Bichette Game 2 preview Shōta Imanaga Sean Manaea
Grand slam? Cubs just flipped the script lol.
I swear every time I watch the Mets start hot they fall apart. 3-0 to 10-3 is wild. Assad was doing fine til he wasn’t.
Swanson hitting 2 HR is cool but can someone explain how the Mets were up 3-0 and then just… forgot baseball? Like did Chicago steal signs or something? Also Assad getting walks feels like the real villain here, not the Mets defense.
So the Cubs snapped a tough stretch and now they’re 5 over .500 again… love that for them. But I’m confused because it says McLean had zeroes for first three innings? Who’s McLean even on the Mets or Cubs? Either way 7 RBI from Swanson sounds like he was basically carrying the whole team, which is always messy when the other team can’t respond.