Mike Tauchman catch: OF's home run robbery vs. Cardinals seals Cubs' seventh win in a row

Sam Jarden

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Mike Tauchman catch: OF's home run robbery vs. Cardinals seals Cubs' seventh win in a row image

The Cubs' winning streak is still intact, thanks to Mike Tauchman. 

Friday night, Chicago held a one-run lead over St. Louis in the bottom of the ninth inning. With two outs and a runner on third, Alec Burleson smoked an Adbert Azolay fastball into deep center field. 

Tauchman tracked it, backpedaling all the way to warning track, before leaping up and robbing Burleson of a home run at the wall.

It was a walk-off web gem, and it gave the Cubs their seventh straight victory. 

The win moved Chicago to 52-51 on the season. The Cubs are 4.5 games out of first place in the National League Central and 3.5 games out of a wild-card spot.

Here's everything you need to know about the Cubs' hero on Friday night:

MORE: What to know about Shohei Ohtani's upcoming free agency

Who is Mike Tauchman?

Tauchman is a journeyman outfielder who has bounced around between several MLB teams in his career.

The Illinois native was selected by the Rockies in the 10th round of the 2013 MLB Draft. He made his major league debut with Colorado in 2017. In 2019, he was traded to the Yankees, where he played in 130 games over a three-season span. He was dealt to the Giants in April 2021 and spent the 2022 season in the KBO with Hanwha. He joined the Cubs' organization as a free agent last January.

The play Friday night wasn't Tuchman's first home run robbery. In fact, it wasn't even his first walk-off robbery. In 2021, while with the Giants, Tauchman won a game against the Dodgers with this theft of a potential Albert Pujols grand slam:

Mike Tauchman stats

Year Team PA HR RBI OBP SLG
2017 Rockies 31 0 2 .344 .296
2018 Rockies 37 0 0 .194 .125
2019 Yankees 296 13 47 .361 .504
2020 Yankees 111 0 14 .342 .305
2021 Yankees 16 0 0 .267 .286
2021 Giants 175 4 15 .286 .283
2023 Cubs 211 5 33 .357 .391

Sam Jarden

Sam Jarden Photo

Sam Jarden joined Sporting News as an intern in 2020 and returned as a content producer in 2022. In between, he spent a year and a half at Turner Sports, managing the social media accounts for Bleacher Report, NBA on TNT, NBA TV and others. A proud UNC alumnus, he spends his free time following the Tar Heels, Buffalo Bills and Newcastle United FC, and has been known to occasionally hit the links.