It’s Happ’s 16th career two-homer game. Four of his eight homers this year have come in his last six games, though he has just two other hits while going 6-for-25 during that span. Still, his OPS is now back up to .742, which is nearly what it was (.745) before he went on the injured list for 10 days last month and slumped upon returning.

Happ smacked an RBI double off of Jake Irvin in the second inning that extended the Cubs’ early lead to 3-0. He then broke the game open with a 405-foot (108.6 mph EV) two-run blast off of Jackson Rutledge in the sixth that made it 5-0. He also had a crucial outfield assist in the third inning, cutting down Robert Hassell III at second base as he tried to stretch a single into a double. He also tacked on an RBI single in the ninth to cap off the Cubs’ scoring. With his three-hit attack, the 30-year-old outfielder is now hitting .259/.348/.373 with four homers, 25 RBI and three stolen bases on the season.

Happ is hitting .184/.262/.211 in nine games since coming off the IL, though he has scored six runs. Pete Crow-Armstrong experienced great success in the leadoff spot while Happ was out, so the Cubs could revisit the decision to slide him back down to the middle of the order. Of course, the team is playing well, and Happ still has a nice .345 OBP for the year; there’s not much of a sense of urgency here.

As was hoped, Happ missed the minimum 10 days with his mild strain. He’ll go back to left field, and with Seiya Suzuki returning to DH duties, Moisés Ballesteros was sent down to Triple-A. There’s no lineup yet, so we’re not sure if Happ will retain his regular leadoff duties, given that Pete Crow-Armstrong has been very successful as his replacement. PCA was mostly hitting sixth and seventh before Happ got hurt.