The Cubs’ bats were jumping on Sunday afternoon after the two-hour, 20-minute rain delay.

Right fielder Mike Tauchman — who had a key pinch-hit, two-run single in Friday’s win — hit a leadoff homer in the first inning, followed by a two-run homer by first baseman Michael Busch in the fourth and a two-run homer by catcher Miguel Amaya in the fourth inning of Sunday’s 5-0 win.

The Cubs finished with seven hits and five walks, constantly putting pressure on starter Jake Irvin over his four innings.

“Tauch leading off the game with a homer is great and it puts everybody in a good place,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Bushy had some big hits today as well; swung the bat well. We played a good all-around game.”

Defensive turnaround

On the first at-bat of Sunday’s game, shortstop Dansby Swanson fielded a hard-hit grounder by right fielder Dylan Crews and threw it over to Busch for the out at first base.

It was a difficult play that Swanson, a two-time Gold Glove award winner, makes routinely. The Cubs’ defense has improved as Swanson returned to his career form after a subpar start to the season.

But the defense was shaky at the start of the season, which played a role in the team’s 21-34 record in May and June. The defense stabilized in the second half, which led to more success for the Cubs.

“As we get to the end here, this is a good defensive group,” Counsell said. “We didn’t play our best the first six weeks. And then, I think Dansby has been … his season is kind of representative of that. He’s been outstanding.”

The Cubs have arguably the best middle infield duo in the majors in second baseman Nico Hoerner and Swanson. The ascension of center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong to the starting job in center field gave the Cubs a promising young talent who has shown a knack for making difficult plays seem routine. Crow-Armstrong entered Sunday’s games fifth in Baseball Savant’s outs above average (13) and defensive runs saved (12).

Entering Sunday’s games, the Cubs were ninth in FanGraphs’ defensive runs saved (30) after finishing sixth in 2023 (36).

Playoff elimination

The Cubs were eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday after their 5-1 loss to the Nationals and the Mets’ 6-3 win against the Phillies.

With a week left in their season, Counsell doesn’t want the group’s focus to change much.

“Nothing changes,” Counsell said. “You just go out, and you play the game, and you respect the game. You respect your teammates and that’s it. That’s what you do.”

Despite some success with Crow-Armstrong’s development, Busch’s impressive rookie season and left-hander Shota Imanga‘s All-Star season, the Cubs haven’t made the playoffs over a full season since 2018 and haven’t won a playoff game since 2017.

“There’s successes, and there’s things that aren’t good enough, and that leads to your record,” Counsell said. “The record is the record, and that’s earned. None of those are promised — the successes or the failures — moving forward, and that’s one of the difficult parts about evaluating teams as well.”

Injury update

• Left fielder Ian Happ was scratched from Sunday’s game with lower back tightness, according to Counsell. He’s day to day.