Bryant blasts homer as Cubs dominate Brew Crew |
The Cubs opened up their 34 game spring training schedule today with a dominant 8-4 win over Milwaukee. The majority of the 25-man roster would see no more than three innings of action, but the balance of the 40-man and the non-roster invitees would step up.
The Cubs opened up defensively in the first with a pair of catches by Heyward in right. Heyward would then follow that up with a leadoff single to start the Cubs season. That would be followed by a two run blast over the left field wall by none other than Kris Bryant. Joe Maddon would rotate players by the fourth inning, seeing Mark Zagunis replacing Heyward, Cristhian Adames for Bryant, Zack Short for Baez, Ryan Court for Contreras and Phillip Evans for Descalso. The subs were more than effective in their opening effort, adding hits, runs and string defense. Wild pitches and walks from the Brewers, combined with solid offense and smart baserunning by the Cubs, would yield another pair of runs in the third, then two more by the end of the fourth, putting the Cubs up 6-2. Moving to the top of the sixth, Carlos Ramirez and the Cubs would give up a run on an RBI double from the Brewers Corey Ray, making the score 6-3 Cubs. The Cubs would escape the remainder of sixth without giving up another run. A lack of hustle by Brewers’ shortstop, Jake Hager, would allow the Cubs to open the sixth with a single from Cubs’ CF, Jacob Hannemann, but the Cubs failed to move him around the bases. By the time the seventh ended, the Cubs had added another pair of runs, now dominating the Crew by a score of 8-3. The top of the eighth wasn’t kind to Cubs’ reliever, Rodney Brooks, who gave up a run on a pair of hits, bringing the Brewers to within four. The Cubs wouldn’t plate another run after the seventh, but that was more than they needed as they cruised to an 8-4 win. Baseball is back and so is Kris Bryant's home run swing pic.twitter.com/9xgRPi726t
Cubs’ Offense: Jason Heyward: 1 for 2; Kris Bryant: 2 for 2, HR, 2 RBI; Javy Baez: 0 for 2 with a strikeout. Daniel Descalso: 1 for 2 with an RBI; Willson Contreras: Not a good day for Contreras who served as the DH. Contreras would go 0-2 with a pair of strikeouts; Jim Adduci: 1 for 3, strikeout; Jacob Hannenmann: 1 for 2, with a walk and a strikeout; Taylor Davis: 1 for 2; Johnny Field: 0 for 2 with a walk; Evan Marzilli: 0 for 1, strikeout; Mark Zagunis: 0 for 3, RBI; Cristhian Adames: 0 for 3, strikeout; Zack Short: 0 for 1, walk; Phillip Evans: 2 for 2; Ryan Court: 1 for 2, RBI, strikeout; Yasiel Balaguert: 0 for 1, RBI; Francisco Arcia: 0 for 2, strikeout; Charcer Brooks: 0 for 1, strikeout. TEAM TOTALS: 10 for 35 (.286), 3 walks, 10 strikeouts, 16 runners stranded. Cubs' Pitching: For the pitchers it was literally hit or miss today. Those who didn’t leave the game with an ERA of 0.00, seemed to leave it with an ERA of 9.00 (literally). Jen Ho Tseng: Although Tseng had a decent first inning, he’d give up a game tying homerun in the top of the second. All told, Tseng gave up four hits and a pair of earned runs through 2 innings of work. No strikeouts or walks. Mike Zagurski: 1.0 inning, 1 hit, 2 BB, 1 K. Rowan Wick: 1.0 perfect inning. Matt Carasiti: 1.0 inning, 1 hit, 3 K. Carlos Ramirez: 1.0 inning, 2 hits, one earned run. Alberto Baldonado: 1.0 perfect inning. Craig Brooks: 1.0 inning, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 2 strikeouts. Oscar De La Cruz: 1.0 inning, 1 strikeout. Cubs win!
Upcoming games: Sunday vs Giants (Tyler Chatwood to start) , Monday vs Padres (Jon Lester), Tuesday vs D-Backs (Yu Darvish), Wednesday vs Rangers (Cole Hamels), Thursday vs A’s (Kyle Hendricks), Friday vs D-Backs (Quintana). Saturday's Scoreboard: SPRING TRAINING STANDINGS Sunday's schedule: 1:05 PM EST: MIN @BOS, NYY @ TBR, TOR @ BAL, PHI @ DET, MIA @PIT, ATL @ HOU, WSH @ STL, HOU @NYM. 3:05 PM EST: CUBS @ SFG, KCR @ OAK, ARI @ CLE, LAA @LAD, CIN @ LAA, CWS @ SDP, SEA @ COL. 4:05PM EST: MIL @ TEX. #Cubs 8, #Brewers 4
Final: #Cubs 8, Brewers 4. #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/6DGZMTW7dC
KB with a two-run dinger in the win#FlytheW#EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/q2laCzsOF7
