Chicago Cubs Outfielder Ends Home Run Drought In Epic Fashion
Chicago Cubs outfielder Mike Tauchman finally snapped out of his power drought.
On Sept. 27, 2023, Chicago Cubs outfielder Mike Tauchman launched a solo homer in a 6-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Nearly seven months would pass before his next homer in an MLB game.
After 21 games without a long ball dating back to last year, Tauchman broke out of his power funk in a big way on Tuesday. The 33-year-old veteran smashed not one, but two opposite-field homers against the skidding Houston Astros, propelling the Cubs to a 7-2 victory at Wrigley Field.
Tauchman had been heating up recently, so it was only a matter of time before he put one in the seats. He was 7-for-17 with three doubles over his previous five games, so he was clearly seeing the ball well and hitting it hard.
That culminated in his first two home runs of the season on Tuesday.
Tauchman's first bomb came in his first at-bat against Astros starter J.P. France in the bottom of the first. It was Chicago's second homer of the inning (Cody Bellinger had the other), and Tauchman's three-run shot extended the Cubs' early lead to 5-0.
France didn't allow any additional runs after that, but the damage was done. After walking in the third inning and striking out in the sixth, Tauchman homered again to lead off the bottom of the eighth, making the game 7-2.
It was Tauchman's second career multi-homer game and first since Aug. 5, 2019, when he was with the New York Yankees.
With 27 home runs in 384 career games, Tauchman isn't a big power hitter. On Tuesday, however, he proved he still has some pop in his bat.
