CINCINNATI -- Kyle Schwarber needed extra time to clean up before meeting the media early Wednesday morning.
He still hadn't wiped off all the shaving cream he'd been doused with by Chicago Cubs teammates celebrating him almost single-handedly leading them to a 5-4, 13-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds.
"We have good teammates here," said the rookie catcher, who hit a two-run game-tying homer off right-hander J.J. Hoover in the top of the ninth inning and a solo shot off Nate Adcock in the 13th. "There's no ‘rookie this' or ‘rookie that.' It's been easy to come here and play for these guys.
"It's just awesome to help contribute."
Contribute? Besides tying and winning the game, Schwarber hit a laser beam to center field for a ground-rule double that drove in Addison Russell with Chicago's first run in the fifth inning. He finished a triple shy of the cycle -- you can't count the one he hit on his way to being named the Futures Game Most Valuable Player just 10 days ago -- as well as catching all 13 innings, including six scoreless frames to help set up the come-from-behind win.
"I'm pretty proud of the whole staff," the rookie catcher said.
While manager Joe Maddon appreciates Schwarber's offense, he savors the defense.
"He's pretty impressive," Maddon said. "You focus on the hitting, but he did a really good job behind the plate. Offensively, there's a different kind of thing about him."
Schwarber displayed every bit of it with his ninth-inning at-bat, working the count to 3-2 and fouling off three pitches before launching a high-arcing shot 397 feet down the right-field line. It just cleared the visitors' bullpen and landed in the lower level of a party area. Right fielder Jay Bruce took just a couple of steps and watched in awe.
"I was just trying to get on base," Scharber said. "Once you get to two strikes, you're in battle mode. It's battle time. I was just trying to put the ball in play, get the barrel on the ball and get on for the next guy. It just happened to go out."
The eventual game-winner was less dramatic, but equally as effective. The count was just 2-2 when he lined one 385 feet into the right-field seats with one out in the 13th inning.
The multi-hit game is the fourth of Schwarber's brief, 11-game career and his second with four hits. He's hitting .410 overall with two doubles, one triple and three home runs, and making Cubs fans start to wonder what happens when Miguel Montero comes back from the thumb injury that led Chicago to recall Schwarber right after the All-Star break.
That he's doing it in Great American Ball Park -- where he grew up watching major league baseball and the Reds -- makes the story even more romantic. The native of Middletown, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, said he left 12 tickets for family and friends, but it's almost certain there were more on hand.
Even though the first pitch for the next game of the series was scheduled for fewer than 12 hours away, the 22-year-old Schwarber was due to be right back at it. Maddon had him penciled in as the starting catcher for the 11:35 a.m. CDT opener of a day-night doubleheader.
"I'm ready to get back and do it all over again," Schwarber said. "I'm excited for it."
The way he's hitting, who wouldn't be?