A day after taking a beating, the Chicago Cubs got off the mat against the Philadelphia Phillies and punched back with a 10-4 win Tuesday night. Craig Counsell saw his offense erase a 3-0 deficit to take a comfortable lead in the late innings, but after a tense bases-loaded jam in the eighth, Carson Kelly capped off the win with a huge, three-run home run in the ninth. What made Kelly’s big swing even better was Cubs’ announcer Jim Deshaies perfectly predicting the home run seconds before it happened.
The Cubs built a 7-3 lead thanks to some clutch hitting from Nico Hoerner and Alex Bregman, who each drove in three runs, while Ian Happ added an RBI double during the team’s comeback against Aaron Nola. Yet, the Phillies didn’t make it easy, scoring a run off Jacob Webb in the eighth, and then loading the bases against Caleb Thielbar. Thankfully for the Cubs, Thielbar struck out Alec Bohm, who pinch hit, representing the go-ahead run.
Seiya Suzuki singled to start the ninth inning against left-handed reliever Tanner Banks, who then walked Miguel Amaya. Kelly stepped up to the plate, and this is what made the call from JD more impressive. It’s not that he saw Kelly coming up against a lefty pitcher; the Cubs analyst took his shot when Kelly was down 1-2 in the count against Banks before bringing up how the offense had a good night, but still hadn’t hit a home run.
“What the Cubs haven’t done tonight is hit the ball over the wall. Just spit-balling here, thinking out loud. Wouldn’t be a bad time.”
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Well, Kelly must have heard JD because on the very next pitch he hit his first home run of the year and it was a bomb!
A 422-foot home run for the veteran catcher, who is once again off to a great start on offense. Kelly is now hitting .333/.455/.467, in 55 plate appearances so far in 2026, while going 15-for-45.
“JD, did you see that in a dream and knew it was coming?” “Just felt like it was time.” Boog Sciambi and Deshaies joked after the Kelly home run.
Now, you might think that a three-run homer in the ninth when your team is already leading by three runs isn’t that big of a time to hit a home run, but it was crucial for the Cubs. After the Phillies got back into it in the eighth, the Cubs were about to use their closer, Daniel Palencia, for the save opportunity. However, as soon as Kelly rounded the bases, Palencia took a seat in the bullpen, and newly called-up reliever Ryan Rolison got the final three outs in a much lower leverage situation.
So, instead of only getting a day of rest following back-to-back appearances, Palencia got another one and is hopefully fresher for his next outing out of the bullpen for the Cubs. All thanks to Kelly’s home run.
