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Levine: Kyle Schwarber Ignites Cubs' Comeback

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The road from hitting .330 down to .261 entering play Tuesday night had been a bumpy one for Cubs rookie catcher/outfielder Kyle Schwarber, but the 23-year-old powder keg finally erupted again with a huge two-run home run in the seventh inning after going 5-for-38 in his previous 10 games. His blast provided the difference in Chicago's 5-4 win against Cincinnati.

The Cubs had lost five of their last six games and only scored only 14 runs during that skid. Schwarber hit a 2-2 pitch deep into the left-field stands with Dexter Fowler on base to give the Cubs the victory. He has 12 home runs since the All star break, which is tied for second in the National League despite his recent slump.

Schwarber had three RBIs in the win Tuesday. Patience had been missing in his game as of late.

"Davey ( Martinez, the bench coach) gets some credit for helping tonight to slow myself down," Schwarber said. "This is a cat-and-mouse game with the pitcher. You just have to make the adjustments. If you don't make those adjustments, they will just keep doing the same thing to you. I was in that zone of getting too anxious. The walk I took in the earlier at-bat helped me slow it down (in the seventh)."

The long ball off of Burke Badenhop was on a changeup down and away.

"I chased a pitch in my first at-bat, and I was out," Schwarber said. "After that, I told myself to slow it all down. I had been seeing the ball well, but I was rushing and putting a little pressure on myself. I went back and stuck to the basics of my approach."

Cubs manager Joe Maddon astutely predicted that Schwarber would go through this hitting slump. Maddon saw this coming some three weeks ago when the rookie was hitting everything hard.

"It is just hard to maintain that pace of excellence," Maddon said of his Schwarber projection. "That is really true for a first-year player. The walk was the key for him. I said when you're walking, you are hitting. He needed to accept the walk right there and calm his feet down. He had been jumpy at the plate, and when you do that, you get away from your hands. That was a tremendous at-bat right there."

Schwarber has been torching Cincinnati pitching since coming into the big leagues midseason, hitting .435 with seven runs scored in six games against the Reds.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.

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