OSS: Cubs brought the lumber.
Three up:
- It was another huge game for Javier Baez, who had another multi-HR outing. He can still do the small ball stuff too – with the score tied in the sixth inning, he got on base on a dropped third strike, moved over to second on a Heyward GB, stole third, and scored on a fielder's choice to give the Cubs the lead. He just missed a grand slam in the second – not because hit ball fell short but because Pirates starter Steven Brault uncorked a wild pitch to unclog the bases just before his home run.
- The rest of the offense showed up today as well, including three-hit games from both Kris Bryant and Albert Almora. You have to love seeing crooked numbers on the Cubs row of the scoreboard. Most bafflingly of all, the Cubs only struck out five times today. Four times if you count actual hitters (sorry, Lester).
- The bullpen had another uneventful outing and kept the Pirates locked down until the game got out of hand. Eddie Butler did give up a solo shot to Freese late in the game but the Cubs had an 8 run lead by that point so meh.
Three One down:
- Not a sharp start for Lester today, who gave up four runs in five innings. The biggest blow was on a three run shot by noted gatorade cooler abuser Sean Rodriguez. It was mostly just one bad inning for Lester and I didn't see any buzz about a velocity drop, so it just is what it is. Not much to complain about when the bats explode like this.
Next up: The Cubs go for the series win with Kyle Hendricks facing Trevor WIlliams at 1:20 PM
Comments
https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/04/12/cleveland-browns-nfl-draft-rumors-quarterback-mmqb
This.
TyroneQuote Reply
Javier Baez is awesome, and the Jon Lester bounce pass was sublime.
mylesQuote Reply
I know it’s only 56 PA, but Bryant has struck out less than he’s walked. He has 8 unintentional walks and 7 strikeouts.
dmick89Quote Reply
Freddie Freeman is walking twice as often as he’s striking out (28.6% walk rate, 14.3% strikeout rate). I love small sample size numbers.
dmick89Quote Reply
Freeman is good, but he’s no Matt Chapman.
mylesQuote Reply
Harper is also walking more than twice as often as he’s striking out, but that doesn’t even surprise me. Didi Gregorious is walking nearly three times as often as he’s striking out. So is Elvis Andrus, but that’s easy to do when you walk once every 500 plate appearances like he does.
dmick89Quote Reply
It’s almost like early season statistics are somewhat pointless to look at and that probably explains why I almost always wait until August to pay attention to how non-Cubs are performing.
dmick89Quote Reply
Addison Russell crashed to the ground already.
MylesQuote Reply
Don’t speak ill of the dead.
TyroneQuote Reply
Man, we’re lucky Carlos Carrasco wasn’t healthy in the 2016 postseason. Cubs likely would’ve lost the WS and now the Astros look like they’re going to win every WS for the next decade.
TyroneQuote Reply
To-day’s base ball squadron
CF Happ
3B Bryant
1B Zobrist
LF Schwarber
SS Russell
C Caratini
2B Baez
RF Heyward
P Hendricks
BerseliusQuote Reply
Wish the Pirates would announce their fucking squadron
MylesQuote Reply
Goddamnit, Reuben…
Moving Roquan up my board…
TyroneQuote Reply
Myles,
It would be good to have their base ball squadron too.
BerseliusQuote Reply
Happy Baez Day!
New Shit
http://obstructedview.net/cubs-gameday-pirates-8-3-cubs-6-5-4-12-2018/
mylesQuote Reply