I often find myself telling the ten and 11-year-olds I coach in baseball that baseball is a game of failures. I’ve been saying that as long as I’ve been coaching, even to the high school and college-aged players I’ve worked with. It holds true at every age level.

This game is going to knock you down. But as much as it’s a game of failures, it’s also a game of next. For the Cubs, their next was how they were going to answer getting knocked down in an epic collapse in San Diego the night before. For rookie starter Ben Brown, it was how he would build on his solid relief appearance against the Rockies last week that followed an ugly start to the 2024 season in Texas, where he was tagged for six earned runs in an inning and two-thirds.

Brown’s next was working into the fifth inning on Tuesday night in San Diego, allowing no runs while striking out five Padres hitters. Brown’s performance helped the Cubs ensure that there would be no lingering effect from their embarrassing stinker the night before.

“Look, it’s a hard league, and the league is unforgiving,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after the Cubs victory on Tuesday. “It’s not if you’re gonna get knocked down. You will get knocked down. Kind of what’s after that is always the most important thing. And that’s a great sign of what Ben did after his first appearance in the big leagues, right?

“He got knocked down his first time, and there was certainly reason for him to say, ‘Oh my God.’ And he came out and pitched with a lot of confidence.”

The Cubs bats used a five-run fifth to back Brown’s solid start and easily dispatched the Padres on Tuesday to get back into the win column. Christopher Morel launched a 431-foot home run for a grand slam in that inning after Yan Gomes opened the frame with his own solo home run. Morel’s home run was his third of the season, while Gomes’ blast was his first this year.

Drew Smyly pitched an inning and a third in relief of Brown and allowed the Padres’ only run of the night, a solo shot to Eddie Rosario in the sixth.

Yency Almonte, Mark Leiter Jr., and Adbert Alzolay combined for three scoreless innings of relief, striking out four and walking just one with no base hits surrendered.

The Cubs move to 7-4 on the season and will look for the series victory tomorrow against a familiar face in Dylan Cease.

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What’s on deck?

• Cubs @ Padres | 5:40 PM CT | Marquee

• Blackhawks @ Blues | 7:00 PM CT | NBC Sports Chicago