Fly the W: Cubs break out home run derby for split squad sweep |
Although split-squad games are less frequent than in the past, it's still nice to have them now and then. Yes, it's a bit unorthodox for how they work; Split Squad games essentially let a team play a Spring Training doubleheader without having to play at different times.
After splitting their first Split Squad day last week, the Cubs were back at it Saturday with a chance to go 2-0 for the first time this Spring. Led by an impressive power display in one of those games and a fantastic pitching performance from Ben Brown and company in the other game, the Cubs came away with the split squad sweep against the Royals and Angeles. Cubs 7 - Royals 6: In a match-up against two of the better teams in Spring, the Cubs brought the offense to the park as they downed the Royals at home 7-6. Despite Drew Smyly laboring through 4 1/3 innings and allowing five runs, the Cubs offense bailed him out as they connected for five homers, with four of them coming off of the Royals starter Jordan Lyles. Lyles has been one of those veteran journeyman pitchers who always finds a way to stick with a team despite his numbers not being great. Yet, for whatever reason, he has always pitched well against the Cubs. That wasn't the case in this one, as Seiya Suzuki, Cody Bellinger, and Yan Gomes connected for back-to-back-to-back homers in the first to put the Cubs in front 3-0. Seiya. Belli. Gomes. Chicago held that lead until the top half of the third, when it was MJ Meldendez's turn to leave the yard. His three-run shot brought things back to even 3-3. That didn't last long, though. Gomes connected for his second homer in as many at bats, this one a two-run blast, to put the Cubs back in front 5-3. Yan Gomes goes deep AGAIN 💥 pic.twitter.com/lSgI0nVOVm This time, it was a lead the Cubs would never give back, with Suzuki connecting for the Cub's fifth homer of the game in the fourth inning to build a 7-3 advantage. Seiya strikes again! Like Gomes, that was Suzuki's second homer of the afternoon as he continues to look very good so far this Spring. Despite the comfortable lead, Smyly never seemed on top of his game, and after allowing a one-out double to Tyler Tolbert in the fifth, the Royals were threatening again. That was followed by another blast by Cam Devanney, and just like that, it was a 7-5 Cubs lead. That would be all for Smyly, as he was removed in favor of Jose Cuas and the rest of the Cubs pen. Despite the Cubs offense not scoring after the fourth, the bullpen did a fine job as Cuas, Hector Neris, Adbert Alzolay, and Julian Merryweather all saw work on the mound. Adbert is filthy pic.twitter.com/mb8xtdQyk5 Julian Merryweather striking out the side in the 9th 💨 pic.twitter.com/zaXVu70SYt That group combined to go 4 2/3, allowing one run on three hits while striking out nine as the game's final run came on a seventh-inning Logan Porter single to make things 7-6 before the Cubs won by that score. Cubs 4 - Angels 3: While one of the games was all about the offense, this one came down to the pitching, where the Cubs were again strong. Ben Brown was making his first appearance in a while, but his first start of the Spring and looked as good as ever. Brown scattered three hits in four innings, but didn't allow a run as his ERA fell to 0.91. He walked one and struck out four, as this was the outing the Cubs were waiting for. Opposing Brown was right-hander Jose Soriano, who found himself behind early as the Cubs offense got rolling in a hurry. What started with a two-out single from Dominic Smith in the first turned into a rally as Christopher Morel worked a walk to keep the inning alive. David Peralta followed that up with another hit, as his single gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead and put them in front for good. That made it easier for Brown to settle in, as he worked around three singles in the first two frames to keep the Angels off the board before dominating the rest of his outing. Although it was nice to have that first-inning run, the Cubs' offense was just getting started. Mike Tauchman led off the third with an error before coming home on a long Morel homer to put the Cubs in front 3-0. No doubt about this homer from Christopher Morel! pic.twitter.com/JeVcnABPiX Despite his issues at third this Spring, Morel has been impressive at the plate, making it perfectly clear that he needs to be in the lineup every day. The Cubs continued to keep the pressure on in the third, with a one-out walk to Matt Shaw getting things started ahead of a Luis Vazquez single. Tauchman added a sacrifice fly to close out the scoring for the Cubs, as they led 4-0. It took the Angels six innings to break through, and that came against Keegan Thompson, who continues to search for his 2022 form. Thompson was lights out in the fifth before a one-out double from Mike Trout had the Angels in business in the sixth. Taylor Ward followed that up with a two-run blast to put the Angels on the board and cut the Cubs' lead to 4-2. Los Angeles would another run in the ninth off of Thomas Pannone as the leadoff by Willie Calhoun was followed by the one-out Livan Soto to pull the Angles to within 4-3. That was as close as they would get as Pannone bounced back to finish things off and gave the Cubs the Split Squad sweep.
The @Cubs go back-to-back-to-back! pic.twitter.com/9YoiPfT5Ru
His second home run of the day 👏 pic.twitter.com/z4TmosQxue
