The Cubs are enjoying a strong season and helped by Matthew Boyd, who reached double digit wins for the first time in his career.
Sometime in the future when and if double-digit wins and Chicago Cubs is a category in immaculate grid, Matthew Boyd will qualify.
For the Cubs, the best part is not the fact Boyd reached double digit wins for the first time in an 11-year career, but perhaps the fact he reached it before the All-Star break and it was not one of those high scoring games where a pitcher is able to stick around long enough but it was a Greg Maddux type of performance on Saturday.
“It’s an honor, it’s a product of being on this ball club, being a part of a good ball club, and I’m really, really thankful for that,” Boyd said. “Those wins are a collective thing. It’s because the guys in this room are playing really good baseball, so it’s fun to be a part of that.”
Boyd reached the milestone by allowing four hits in eight innings on 85 pitches against the Yankees, becoming the first pitcher to throw eight scoreless innings against the Yankees since Corbin Burnes had a no-hit bid going for the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 10, 2023 and the first left-hander to do it in Yankee Stadium since Derek Holland tossed a two-hitter for the Texas Rangers on June 27, 2013.
“Oh wow, I didn’t even know that,” Cubs catcher Carson Kelly said about Boyd getting 10 wins for the first time. “That’s actually really cool. I think it’s special and it goes to show the hard work that he’s put in, keeping us in games and close games and giving us a chance to score runs. It’s really cool to see him get to that point.”
Boyd’s outing occurred a night after the Cubs saw Cody Bellinger homer three times off three different pitchers and Kyle Tucker get robbed of a homer by Aaron Judge, who did it three other times before getting two of the Yankees’ four hits off Boy.
Bellinger and Kyle Tucker were central figures in the Cubs’ offseason plans after consecutive 83-win seasons on the heels of a 71-91 finish in 2021 and a 74-88 finish in 2022 following the dissolving of the 2016 championship team.
