Despite the Chicago Cubs struggles early in the season, it appears as if the team is headed into September with another run at the World Series in mind.
On Wednesday, the Cubs completed a much-needed sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates, blowing them out 17-3 at Wrigley Field.
During the game, the Cubs hitters shelled Pittsburgh pitching including rookie Ian Happ who went 3-5 with 4 RBI’s including a historic home run.
Happ’s home run in the third inning not only extended Chicago’s lead to 5-2 but it also set a franchise record. It was the 20th home run of the season for the rookie, giving the Cubs six players with at least 20 home runs on the year:
This blast made Ian Happ the sixth Cubs player to hit 20 homers this year. That's a franchise record. pic.twitter.com/XaBAwMlrMP
— Cubs Talk (@CSNCubs) August 31, 2017
Of those six players, five of them are age 25 or younger which is a new MLB record. Happ is joined by Kris Bryant, Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber and Javier Baez in the category. Anthony Rizzo has 30 on the season.
Happ also becomes the sixth player in franchise history to hit at least 20 home runs in his rookie season:
20+ HR by a #Cubs rookie
2017 Ian Happ
2015 Kris Bryant
2010 Tyler Colvin
2008 Geovany Soto
1961 Billy Williams
1956 Walt Moryn— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) August 31, 2017
The rookie continues his impressive performance this season and has been a big boost to the Cubs offense.
