Steele injured as Giants sweep Cubs in split squad action |
No one likes to see injuries happen at any point during the Spring but to see them this late is especially concerning. With the regular season less than a week away, Craig Counsell and his group are dealing with their share of injuries. Already with Nick Madrigal, Patrick Wisdom, and Jameson Taillon out, among others, the Cubs entered Friday's split squad game against the San Francisco Giants looking to continue pushing through to the start of the regular season.
Instead, the Cubs not only dropped both contests, including one where they led 10-0 but Justin Steele was struck in the leg with a comebacker up the middle and was forced to leave in the second inning. Justin Steele exited today's game after getting hit in the leg. pic.twitter.com/7FhiShr9jg Although it was most likely a precautionary move, his status for the Cubs regular season opener is now in question as the Cubs get set for their final four games of the Spring with more questions than answers. I’m okay.. my bracket is not San Francisco Giants 7 - Chicago Cubs 3: In the home portion of their split-squad day, the Cubs fell behind the eight ball early as Steele was injured one batter into the second inning. That forced Ryan Flaherty to go to his pen sooner than expected, which didn't work out in his favor. With the game tied 0-0 in the third, Hayden Wesneski was called on to pitch as he continues to battle for a spot on this team. After being in the running for the No. 5 spot once camp started, Wesneski was informed that he would start the season out of the pen, giving Counsell a multi-inning option he could lean on. Looking to put forth one or two more strong efforts heading into the regular season, Wesneski didn't have his best outing as he couldn't make it through the third and was charged with allowing four runs. Command was a significant issue for Wesneski as he not only hit a batter but also walked three batters, including Tyler Fitzgerald, with the bases loaded to put the Giants in front 2-0. That came after Jackson Reetz used an RBI single to give the Giants the lead, as they never trailed. San Francisco capped off their massive inning with a two-run Pablo Sandoval single as the Cubs headed to the bottom of the third down 4-0. Led by a Cody Bellinger walk and a pair of fourth-inning singles, including the RBI single from Michael Busch, the Cubs got on the board and pulled within 4-1. As if one crooked inning wasn't bad enough for the Cubs, the Giants made it two as their offense continued to go to work agaisnt the Cubs pen. This time, it was a rare rough outing by Luke Little, who has been close to perfect all Spring. Little walked Marco Luciano to start the inning off only to have Tyler Fitzgerald connect for a two-run blast and extended the Giants lead to 6-1. San Francisco added another run later in the inning and took a 7-1 lead into the game's later stages. Chicago did manage to get a pair of runs back, with Jake Slaughter scoring on a wild pitch and Cole Roederer delivering a single, but they couldn't do much more as the Giants picked up the win 7-3. Giants 13 — Cubs 12: With Taillon set to begin the season on the IL, Chicago had an additional opening in their rotation that needed to be filled. Congratulations to Javier Assad, who will earn that spot. Like Wesneski, Assad got off to a rough start to his Spring but has done a phenomenal job settling in as the season nears. Friday wasn't one of his best outings as Assad labored through 3 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on four hits. Only two of those runs were earned, as his defense did him no favors, but the offense backed him with a plethora of run support. Not only did the Cubs score 10 runs in the first two innings, but nine of them came in the first, as you couldn't have asked for a better start. Dansby Swanson opened the scoring with an RBI single, and David Peralta, Matt Mervis, Miguel Amaya, and Owen Caissie all added RBI singles in the first. The big blow came off the bat of Seiya Suzuki, whose Grand Slam put the Cubs in front 9-0 and had them in great shape. Peralta added his second RBI single in as many innings to put the Cubs in front 10-0, but it went downhill from there as the Giants simply wouldn't go away. After pulling to within 10-2 with a pair of RBI groundouts in the second, the Giants made things really interesting as they scored four times in the fourth to make this a 10-6 game. Nick Ahmed started things off with a two-run single, only to have Jung Hoo Lee and LaMonte Wade add singles to pull within four. Chicago responded in their half of the fifth with a pair of solo shots from Peralta and Mervis to extend their lead to 12-6. Those would be the final runs of the day for this team. Typically, 12 runs would be more than enough for the Cubs to win most games, but not on this day, as the Giants offense was just getting started. As if their four-run fourth wasn't bad enough, why not make it back-to-back four-run frames? A two-out single from Patrick Bailey was followed by the Jorge Soler double, and suddenly this was a 12-10 game. The Giants continued their comeback bid in the sixth, with Matt Chapman leaving the yard to pull San Francisco within 12-11, only to have Trenton Brooks tie things up in the eighth. Down to the final three outs, the Giants hoped to complete the comeback as they had all the momentum on their side. What looked to be a costly caught stealing turned into a disaster for the Cubs, as Chase Watkins' throwing error allowed the winning run to score and gave the Giants the massive 13-12 comeback win.
