On Thursday night, it looked like the Chicago Cubs were headed for a defeat in their series-opening clash against division rival St. Louis Cardinals. Sonny Gray was locked in after a slew of rough starts, and they entered the bottom of the ninth down 5-2. However, the Cubs did not want to go gently into that good night, fighting back against Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley and scoring three runs in the inning off three extra-base hits — with Mike Tauchman dealing the decisive blow with a two-out double to score Dansby Swanson.

Tauchman has had two walk-off hits for the Cubs this season, and as luck would have it, there is a common denominator that seems to foreshadow some late-game heroics from the 33-year-old outfielder. Tauchman revealed to reporters after the game that, on nights where he’s had walk-off hits this season, his wife had an appointment with an OB-GYN earlier in the day.

“My wife had an OBGYN appointment this morning. And she told me that the last walk-off we also had an appointment that morning, so I’m gonna start taking her to the doctor a lot,” Tauchman said, per Tony Andracki of Marquee Sports Network. “Shoutout women’s health care. But she made sure that that was the first message I had from her so I want to put that out there. And she OK’d me sharing it too.”

Is there such a thing as too many trips to the doctor? For Mike Tauchman and his wife Eileen, there might not be such a thing, especially when they have their first child on the way. Making sure that Eileen and the baby are healthy is the number one priority, but if it has the unintended effect of boosting the Cubs outfielder’s production in the clutch, then they better go to that well as often as they could.

Mike Tauchman caps the Cubs’ spirited ninth-inning rally

Ryan Helsley entered Thursday night with 33 saves on the year, as he has usually been a shutdown reliever for the Cardinals in 2024 as evidenced by his 2.15 ERA. The Cubs, however, never knew when to quit. They became the first team in MLB history to tally three RBI extra-base hits with two strikes in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Cody Bellinger began the rally with a home run, and then Nico Hoerner got on base with two outs to keep the game alive for the Cubs. Dansby Swanson and Mike Tauchman proceeded to tally consecutive doubles, sending the fans at Wrigley Field home happy.