Kyle Tucker gets revenge as the Chicago Cubs crush the Houston Astros 12-3 on June 29, 2025. Read how Tucker and a rough start from Framber Valdez ended the streak.
StatPro MLB Beat Reporter
Kyle Tucker went 4-for-5 with a three-run homer against his old team. Of course he did.
The game was competitive for a few innings, but it all came apart in the fourth. Framber Valdez, who has been a rock for the rotation, had his roughest outing of the season. The Cubs exploded for six runs, punctuated by a dagger of a three-run homer from none other than Kyle Tucker. Valdez couldn't escape the inning, finishing with a line of 7 runs (6 earned) on 9 hits. The bullpen couldn't stop the bleeding either, as Seth Martinez and Rafael Montero allowed five more runs, turning a bad day into a blowout.
In a 12-3 shellacking, it's hard to find positives, but a couple of Astros hitters refused to go down quietly. Yordan Alvarez continued his powerful season, launching a solo shot for his 9th home run. Meanwhile, Jeremy Peña chipped in with a solid 2-for-4 day, including an RBI single. It wasn't nearly enough to overcome the deficit, but it's a reminder that the core of this offense can produce even on a tough day.
The buzz on social media was all about one man: King Tuck. Astros fans flooded timelines with a mix of pain, nostalgia, and begrudging respect for their former right fielder. Seeing Tucker dominate in a Cubs uniform, especially his four-hit, three-RBI performance against the team that drafted him, was a bitter pill. It's the kind of 'what if' scenario that will fuel talk radio and fan debates for days.
Let's take a deep breath. A single loss, no matter how ugly, doesn't erase a five-game winning streak. At 49-34, the Astros still sit comfortably atop the AL West. The team remains healthy, with no new injuries or roster shakeups. This loss serves as a reality check. While the big-league club is built to win now, the front office continues its strategy of finding value in an 'underranked' farm system, a philosophy that produced Tucker in the first place and must continue to bear fruit to sustain this level of success.
One game doesn't define a season. The streak is over, and the loss to a former hero stings, but the focus must shift immediately. This is a veteran team that knows how to flush a bad performance. The challenge now is to bounce back, get a quality start from the next man up, and prove that Sunday's rout was an aberration, not the start of a trend. It's time to start a new streak.
