OSS: Cubs pitching dominates the Brewers to cap off a 5-4 road trip.
Three up:
- Jose Quintana and the Cubs bullpen shut out the Brewers, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out nine. Aside from a sixth inning mini-jam that Q worked his way around, the Brewers never had more than one baserunner in an inning. The Cubs rotation got off to a rocky start, but in this series starters gave up just 5 runs in 23 innings.
- Ben Zobrist continued his hot streak with a homer that just hugged the inside of the RF foul pole. He has a .360/.448/.520 line on the season.
- The Cubs actually got some hits with runners in scoring position! Well, a hit. Almora doubled down the first base line in the fifth to score Heyward from second. The Cubs third run came on yet another Brewers error, this time on a hard hit ball to Aguilar at first. I think I saw a Brewers fan complaining that they had more errors than hits in this series.
Three down:
- It sounds like Rizzo's stiff back is stiffer than usual, and he'll probably miss the home opener tomorrow. Bummer.
- Willson had the Cubs two most negative WPA plays on the day. He was caught stealing for some reason in the fourth (I must have missed that – botched hit and run?) and grounded into a double play in the sixth with the Cubs up 2-0. But he had two other hits, including a triple that just missed going over the fence, and picked off Cain at first. So overall a positive day.
- Kris Bryant didn't reach base today. Sound like it's time to send that kid back to Iowa for some seasoning.
Next up: The Cubs home opener is tomorrow against the Pirates. Tyler Chatwood takes on Ivan Nova at 1:20 CT.
Comments
Will Gabe Kapler even last the month of April as Phillies manager?
berseliusQuote Reply
He ran on a ball in the dirt. It was not scored a caught stealing.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
berselius,
All-Star break.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Fangraphs needs to get a better play feed (dying laughing).
berseliusQuote Reply
Eugenio Suarez —–> Broken thumb.
berseliusQuote Reply
No, you got the chronology wrong. The Cubs traded for Chapman before Rondon’s injury, when his numbers were excellent.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Anyway, my issue with proclaiming that Cishek to be much better than Rondon is not that I place a lot of trust in projections for relievers. It’s that I don’t think we can do any better with folk knowledge and observations like “he’s been giving up a ton of homers since his injury.” I mean, for one thing, his home run rate has primarily been driven by an unsustainable ~20% HR/FB rate (a rate that takes hundreds of innings pitched to stabalize). I mean, if someone can provide evidence that arm injuries lead to fly balls travelling farther (without any observable decrease in pitch velocity), I’ll listen, but I think the null hypothesis is far more reasonable.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
I don’t think Rondon was fooling anybody anymore. I wonder if he lost movement, not velocity. Everything looked like a meatball. (Meatballs fly pretty far.)
ceruleanQuote Reply
http://obstructedview.net/series-preview-pittsburgh-pirates-7-2-at-chicago-cubs-5-4/
berseliusQuote Reply