Mike Tauchman, are you kidding me right now?!?!?!

Bottom of the ninth inning, Cubs leading 3-2, and with two outs the center fielder robs the Cardinals of a walk-off home run. Holy shit!

The Cubs have now won seven games in a row and are above .500, at 52-51.

The entire ninth inning was insane and most of it was because Cubs fans couldn't believe what the hell the team was doing. In the top of the inning, Mike Tauchman pinch-hit for Trey Mancini and he delivered a leadoff single to center field. Mile Mastrobuoni was up next and worked a walk.

Then Cubs fans were ready to rip David Ross apart. With runners at first and second with nobody out, the Cubs had rookie catcher Miguel Amaya put down a sac-bunt. To his credit, Amaya's bunt attempt was near-perfect, but the Cardinals turned it into a double play.

That left Mastrobuoni at second base with two outs. Nico Hoerner fouled out on the second pitch he saw from Chris Stratton, who escaped the jam with no damage allowed. Absolutely maddening that the Cubs could not add an insurance run or two after having the first two runners reach. Just a dumb decision to give the other team a free out and will you look at that, it actually ended up being two outs. Bonehead decision.

Adbert Alzolay, who came in to face Nolan Arenado with two outs in the eighth inning and struck him out, came back out to nail down the save in the ninth. Things immediately got tense as Willson Contreras and Tyler O'Neill hit back-to-back singles to right field to begin the inning.

However, the Cubs' plan of having elite defenders in the middle of the diamondback paid off big time, as Hoerner and Dansby Swanson turned a beautiful 4-6-3 double play, when Brendan Donovan hit a sharp ground ball to second base.

And even before Tauchman's heroics, Alzolay had Alec Burleson down 0-2 in the count and the third pitch was right on the edge of the strike zone, but the Cubs closer didn't get the call. Cubs fans were freaking out that the game wasn't over right there and then on the very next time, Mike fucking Tauchman.

What a way to keep the winning streak alive and yes this is about to sound dramatic, but maybe saved the Cubs season. Imagine the emotional gut-punch it would have been to blow that game when the front office is still deciding whether or not to sell.

But I just can't see Jed Hoyer doing that. The Cubs are above .500, and with the Milwaukee Brewers losing Friday night, the Cubs are now 4.5 games back of first place in the NL Central.

Shoutout Pitching

Hayden Wesneski was called up from Triple-A on Friday and apparently the plan was always for the rookie to only throw a pair innings against the Cardinals, acting as the opener. The righty gave up a leadoff homer to Lars Nootbaar, but he was still effective. It was similar to Michael Fulmer, who also pitched two innings as the opener against the Cardinals last Saturday. Wesneski struck out four, walked one, gave up the homer, but that was it in two innings.

My expectations were low and again I did not like that Wesneski only threw two innings, but Drew Smyly got the job done. He also gave up a home run to Nootbaar, but the veteran lefty was stellar otherwise. Smyly threw 4.1 innings, 1 ER, 6 K and 1 BB. He got credit for the win.

Julian Merryweather cleaned up the seventh inning, getting two outs and then recorded the first two outs of the eighth inning that paved the way for Alzolay. The Cubs closer picked up the four-out save, his 12th of the season.