Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (6/4/26): Cubs 7, Athletics 6 – Cubs Score Four In The 9th For Dramatic Walk-Off Victory

The Cubs appeared to be headed for another frustrating defeat on Thursday night trailing 6-1 in the 7th inning, before shocking the Athletics by staging a dramatic comeback win. Pete Crow-Armstrong, who made a major defensive blunder earlier in the game, turned his evening around with the walk-off single in the 9th.

Chicago starter Shōta Imanaga was sharp early, giving up only a solo home run to Shea Langeliers in the top of the 4th. A’s hurler J.T. Ginn was even better, throwing five scoreless frames.

The wheels came off for the North Siders in the top of the 6th inning, beginning with an RBI double by Henry Bolte. Then Langeliers lifted a ball into center that PCA completely lost in the lights. The ball dropped 20 feet behind him allowing the runner on second and the batter to come all the way around and score for a inside-the-park home run. That made it 4-0 Athletics.

The Cubs’ center fielder got one of those tallies back with a solo dinger off of Ginn in the bottom of the frame. The A’s wasted no time responding with back-to-back homers from Tyler Soderstrom and Jonah Heim in the 7th that knocked Imanaga out of the game and gave them a 6-1 lead.

Ian Happ gave Chicago a little bit of hope with a two-run homer off Scott Barlow in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit to 6-3. Happ then got the rally going in the 9th with an RBI double off of Joel Kuhnel. Moisés Ballesteros followed with an infield single to bring home another run and make it 6-5.

The Athletics brought in Luis Medina to attempt to preserve the victory but Dansby Swanson singled home the game-tying run. At that point, PCA completed his journey from goat to hero with his own RBI single that won the game 7-6. (Box score)

Key Moment

Trent Thornton came on in relief in the top of the 7th and loaded the bases but the A’s failed to add on and the score remained 6-1.

Why the Cubs Won

The offense came to life late and the team as a whole did not quit when almost everything went wrong in the first seven innings.

Stats That Matter

• One of the home runs was not his fault but the other three Shōta gave up continues a troubling trend: 6 IP, 6 R, 6 H, 5 K, and 1 BB.
• Happ continued his recent power surge with two more extra-base hits.
• PCA got on base three more times Thursday.

Bottom Line

The Cubs badly needed to win that game or frankly any game the way things have been going. Sometimes the way to break out of a funk is with a dramatic comeback but that only works if you build on the opportunity. This unexpected victory gives Chicago an opening, let’s see if they can take advantage.

On Deck

The Giants come to Wrigley for three starting Friday at 1:20pm CT. Edward Cabrera makes his return against veteran Robbie Ray in a contest available on Marquee with a radio feed on The Score.