DETROIT – You didn’t think the Cubs were going to hit like that the rest of the year, did you?



With new acquisition Daniel Murphy setting the tone Theo Epstein and Joe Maddon had hoped he would, the Cubs bats awoke from their latest slumber, slugging three homers to top the Detroit Tigers 8-2 on Wednesday and wrap a 3-3 road trip that could have been much worse.



The Cubs are back home with a 2 1/2 game lead on St. Louis, which is a half-game up on Milwaukee in the NL Central.



“We go home with a .500 road trip in spite of scoring five runs in five games,” Maddon said. “You gotta look for a silver lining in a situation like this. We could have easily had an awful road trip. We did not. We pitched and caught it really well. I think tonight was indicative of the kind of offense we can play, so let’s just keep moving it forward.”



After scoring five runs on five solo home runs in the first five games of the trip, a...