Michael

Busch

Busch was hit on his right arm, stayed in to run the bases and then was removed for defense. Hopefully, Busch merely experienced some pain from the hit by pitch and avoided a serious injury.

Busch also scored two runs, because that’s how that works. The 26-year-old is up to 20 homers in his first year with the Cubs, and four of those blasts have come in the month of September. Busch has had the usual ebbs and flows of a a first-year starter, but the ups have suggested that the former first-round pick has a pretty solid future ahead of him.

The Cubs could have sat Busch against a lefty tonight, but they stuck with him, and he delivered, even if the big blow did come against a right-handed reliever in Victor Vodnik. The homer, which briefly tied the game in the seventh, was Busch’s 18th of the year. He probably earned himself another start versus southpaw Kyle Freeland on Saturday.

Busch’s opposite-field homer off Walker Buehler was hit just 339 feet and would have been an out in most ballparks, but it was to the right part of the Dodger Stadium. It was Busch’s first homer since Aug. 7 and 17th of the year. He finished with three RBI and three runs scored to go along with his four hits. He matched his career high in all three of those categories. In fact, he had reached each of those totals just once previously, all in different games this year (three RBI on Apr. 7, four hits on July 9 and three runs scored on July 11).

The Cubs totaled just one hit today, so it’s not entirely fair that we’re singling out Busch here. Still, this makes him 5-for-38 with one extra-base hit in his last 10 games. He’s at .167 with no homers in his last 20 games. On the plus side, he’s actually struck out a little bit less than usual during this slump. We imagine he’ll bounce back, but he might be looking at getting a day off in the near future.

Busch takes a seat with Pirates fireballer Jared Jones toeing the rubber on Tuesday night while Cody Bellinger takes a turn at the cold corner and Mike Tauchman patrols right field. The 26-year-old rookie has gone 1-for-11 over his last two games, so a quick break might not be a bad idea.

Busch doubled and singled twice while also drawing a walk; one of eight free passes that the Cubs picked up to go with 17 hits. Amazingly, the Cubs were kept scoreless in this contest. Just kidding, they scored 14. Busch has put together a quality — if up-and-down — first season with the Chicago as seen in a slash of 258/.346/.449.

Busch kicked off the scoring by taking Twins starter Joe Ryan deep in the opening frame for his third round-tripper in his last six games dating back to August 2. The 26-year-old former top prospect is still striking out over 30 percent of the time, and lacks the elite over-the-fence pop for the position, but he’s up to 16 home runs on the year in 408 plate appearances and is definitely making an impact for fantasy managers in deeper mixed leagues. He’s put himself in the mix as a potential top 20 first baseman for fantasy purposes heading into next year.

Busch homered for the second consecutive contest, connecting on a hanging sweeper from Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson in the opening frame of Saturday afternoon’s showdown at Wrigley Field for his 15th big fly of the season. The 26-year-old has gone deep three times over his last six contests since July 29.

Busch supplied Chicago’s lone run during Monday’s one-sided contest at Great American Ball Park by taking Reds reliever Buck Farmer deep in the ninth inning for his 13th big fly of the season. The 26-year-old former top prosepct has hit a bit of a skid at the plate over the last few weeks, batting .203 (12-for-59) with one homer and one steal over his last 15 games.