RECAP: Fly The W!
Cubs are in Seattle (yesterday and today) for the first time since 2016. 2016’s Seattle trip was a marathon win with Travis Wood playing in the outfield and Jon Lester scoring the winning run with a bunt in extras. Last night’s win was almost as fun. Descalso lead the game off with a homer and go ahead homers just kept coming. Coming into the game, the Cubs were the only team in MLB who *didnt* have a leadoff long ball. Fortunately, Descalso took them out of that lonely club!
Cole Hamels took the mound for the Cubs to to face off against Mariners’ King Felix. Felix Hernandez is no longer the pitcher he was in his prime but he has been surprisingly good this year, allowing just 3 walks coming in to the game. Neither Hamels nor Hernandez were at their best. Hamels was having issues locating his fastball and Hernandez left too many of his secondary pitches in the zone. However, both were able to make quality pitches when they needed to and while neither pitched a quality start, they both were able to prove that they’re still capable of limiting damage even without their best “stuff”. By the end of their outings, each pitcher gave up 4 runs, though errors by Baez and Bote resulted in only 2 of Hamels 4 runs being earned.
Hamels final line: 5.1 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs/2 earned, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts and 0 long balls.
Hernandez final line: 6 innings, 8 hits, 4 runs/4 earned, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts and 2 homers.
As far as the offensive side of things goes, it was a fun back and forth for most of the night. As mentioned, Descalso lead things off in the first with his second homer of the season. Bote lead off the fourth by beating out an infield hit. Neither Heyward nor Contreras could advance him but a walk by Schwarber put 2 on, 2 out for Almora. Almora was able to squeeze a groundball into centerfield and Bote came home to put the Cubs up 2-0. The lead wouldnt last long, though.
Hamels started out the bottom of the 4th bu walking Encarnacion. Beckham, the very next batter, hit a double to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Jay Bruce hit a groundball to the right side of the field and though he made the first out of the inning, he also drove in the first Mariners run to put the score at 2-1. Hamels got the second out by striking out Healy. A walk to Narváez put runners on the corners. Hamels almost escaped with minimal damage when rookie Bishop hit a groundball towards the third base but an error by Bote allowed the runner at third to score, tying the game up at 2. Dee Gordon then hit a groundball and the second error in 2 plays occurred when Baez overthrew first base. A third run scored, putting the Mariners up 3-2. The inning finally ended with Mitch Haniger popping up to Rizzo.
The inning ended, but the scoring did not. Bryzzo took back the lead in the top of the fifth. It started with Bryant leading off with a double. He then came home when Rizzo launched a no doubter to the centerfield stands to give the Cubs a 4-3 lead.
Hamels started the bottom of the fifth by giving up a leadoff double but the Mariners wouldnt be able to do much else against him. He wouldnt be so lucky in the bottom of the 6th. A leadoff double and single to shallow left put 2 on with nobody out. Hamels was able to strike out Bishop but gave up the lead when Gordon hit an RBI single. Hamels was then pulled and groundball master Brandon Kintzler came in. He walked Haniger, the first batter he saw before inducing the groundball double play to end the 6th. With both starters out, this game was now in the hands of the pens.
Former Cub Zac Rosscup pitched a scoreless top 7. Kintzler was left in for the bottom of the 7th and gave up the go ahead homer to Encarnacion. He struck out Beckham before being taken out and Brad Brach coming in to shut the Mariners down.
Reliver Brandon Brennan was on the mound with 2 outs in the top of the 8th. With the Cubs down by 1, and time running out, Contreras kept the inning alive with a double. The Cubs then took a 1 run lead when Schwarber crushed a 440 ft no doubter to right. The Cubs took a 6-5 lead that was good enough for the W. Though things got a little dicey in the bottom of the 9th with a runner on third, Cishek was a to prevent the run from scoring and earned his first save of the season.
After starting the season out by going 2-7, Cubs finished April with a 15-12 record. The win puts them 3 games over .500 for the first time in 2019 and ensures that, at the very worst, they will split the series, meaning the Cubs haven’t lost a series since losing to Milwaukee on their first road trip.
Cubs look for the sweep tonight behind ace Jon Lester, who is still looking for his second win of the season (1-1 2.37 ERA) though it’ll be no easy task as he takes on Marco Gonzalez, who is 5-0 with a 2.80 ERA in 7 starts this year. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 est/5:10 cst.
