Recap: Off Day Sparks Offense
With a day game Sunday followed by an off day followed by a night game, it sure felt like when the Cubs took the field Tuesday night, they were doing so for the first time in ages. Obviously, that’s not true, but it sure felt that way. Maybe it felt that way to the Cubs offense, too, because they came out of the box swinging. Not only was the offense clicking, but the defense was too and when combined with the stellar outting from Quintana, it made for a very fun game for Cubs fans to watch.
Quintana came out in the first to prove that his two great starts after that clunker in Milwaukee weren’t flukes and weren’t because he was facing offensively weaker teams. He needed just 14 pitches to get through a quick “1, 2, 3” first. He gave up a leadoff single to Dodgers shortstop, Corey Seager, in the second but a flyout to center and two strikeouts later saw the inning end with Seager still on first. He wasnt as lucky in the 3rd. With the bottom of the lineup due up, Quintana lost the battle against catcher Barnes when 3 pitches that could have easily been called strike 3 were instead called balls 2, 3 and 4 and the leadoff man once again reached first safely. The pitcher, Kenta Maeda, then laid down a perfect sac bunt to put the first Dodger into scoring position for the top of the lineup. Q was able to strike out leadoff hitter, Kike Hernández, before giving up an RBI double to Turner. The inning ended with the next batter, David Freese, grounding out. The Dodgers wouldnt get another man on base until the 7th, Q’s final inning. He started out the 7th by striking out Seager but a line drive to left by Pollock and a blooper double by Bellinger put runners on second and third for Taylor, who put the ball in play on the right side of the field and though he ended up out at first, he was able to knock in the second run for the Dodgers. Quintana then walked Barnes to put runners on first and third but was able to end his night by striking out pinch hitter Max Muncy. By the end of the 7th, Quintana had thrown 110 pitches and was done for the night, in line for the W. He pitched 7 full innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7. He came into the game with a 3.43 ERA that dropped to 3.21. His counterpart, Kenta Maeda, would not have nearly as good of a night.
Maeda came into the game limited to around 80 pitches, and everyone knew it. I cant help but think that working at bats and getting Maeda’s pitch count up there was a part of the game plan. Zobrist worked a full count before sending a single to left field. Bryant worked a full count before taking ball 4. With 2 on and nobody out, Rizzo worked a full count before advancing the runners, though he made the first out. By this time, Maeda’s pitch count was already near 20, or 1/4 of his total, and what happened next is the reason I suspect getting the pitch count up was an actual, discussed part of the game plan. Javy came to the plate and the MLBN announcers couldnt stop talking about what a free swinger Javy was and how much he liked to attack on the first pitch. When that first pitch came in, however, Javy didnt swing and took ball one. As a matter of fact, Javy only took one swing in that whole at bat. When the count was 3-1, it was hard to see Javy laying off but the pitch came in, Javy didnt swing (well, he moved his bat a little bit but was easily able to check it) and drew the walk to load the bases for Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber, too, worked a full count, though he eventually went down swinging. With the bases still loaded but only now with 2 outs, the hottest catcher in the NL came up to bat. He came up with the very clear intention of driving in runs, though after falling behind 0-2, it looked like the Cubs would leave the bases loaded. And that’s when Maeda made a mistake by leaving his pitch in the zone a little too long. Contreras got ahold of the ball and ripped it down the left field line for a bases clearing double to put the Cubs up 3-0 in the first. He was then driven in by Descalso, who also sent a double to left field, and put the Cubs up 4 runs. After Descalso’s hit, Heyward was intentionally walked to bring up Quintana, who ended the inning by grounding out to first.
You know when the leadoff hitter leads off the first and the second that things are going well. Such was the case when Zobrist lead off the second with another shot to left. Bryant wasnt able to duplicate his walk and ended up sending a pop up to the second baseman. That was ok, though, because Rizzo came up and sent the first pitch he saw into the bleachers. His 2 run bomb put the Cubs up 6-1 in the second. With the crowd still buzzing from the homer, Baez came up to the plate. An infield dribbler towards first made it appear as though Baez would make the second out of the inning but that’s when Javy transformed into El Mago and pulled off his first magic trick of the night. David Freese is usually a catcher. Tuesday night, though, he was a first baseman. Maybe that explains why when he came running up the line for El Mago’s infield hit, he tried tagging the runner instead of just taking the ball to first base. Whatever the reason, he tried tagging El Mago. El Mago did some fancy footwork to get around the tag before diving head first into first, where he was called safe. Dodgers manager Dave Robertson, came out and tried to argue that Javy was out of the base path but the first base ump (probably. I couldn’t actually hear but this was the explanation given on MLBN after the game) explained to him that a new lane of 3 feet in either direction opens up once the defender has the ball and tries tagging out the runner. So the call stood and Javy was safe. Schwarber also got an infield hit when he sent a swinging bunt to the third base side of the infield, where nobody was covering. Just when it looked like the Cubs were poised for another big inning, Maeda finally found the zone and struck out Contreras and Descalso to end the second. Maeda then pitched clean third and fourth innings before his night ended. He left in line for the loss after giving up 7 hits, 6 runs and homer while walking 3 and striking out 5. He came in with a 3.80 ERA and left with a 5.20 ERA. Reliever Julio Urias came in in the 5th and immediately quieted Cubs bats.
As much fun as the first three innings were, the middle innings flew by quickly as both Quintana and Urias pitched quick, clean 5th and 6th innings.
As said above, Quintana gave up his second and final run in the 7th to put the score at 6-2. That wouldnt be the final score, though. Reliever Ferguson came in the bottom of the 7th to face the heart of Cubs lineup and while he got Rizzo to ground out, he was not able to do the same to El Mago, who slugged his 7th homer of the season into the right field bleachers to out the Cubs up 7-2.
Reliever Steve Cishek was the first man out of the pen, brought in to face the top of the Dodgers lineup. He was able to strike out Kike Hernández but followed that up by giving up singles to Turner and Verdugo. He was then pulled and lefty reliever Kyle Ryan came in. The first batter he saw, Corey Seager, singled to load the bases with only one out. When Pollock came up to bat, Cody Bellinger was on deck and represented the tying run, should Pollock reach base. Fortunately, Pollock went down swinging for a big 2nd out. Bellinger came up next and sent a groundball to Baez, who was playing on the edge of the outfield grass in between first and second. Bellinger is a fast runner and was booking it out of the box. He may be fast but Javy is El Mago. He fired the throw to Rizzo and the ball hit his glove just a few tenths of a second before Bellinger’s foot hit the base. A tense 8th ended with a tense play that Dodgers manager Dave Robert’s wouldn’t challenge. Kyle Ryan stayed in to pitch the 9th and after such a dicey 8th that nearly saw the Dodgers tie the game, it was great to see Ryan bookend the 9th with strikeouts, with a groundball out at first in between.
Cubs won 7-2. Quintana earned the win, Maeda took the loss, and the fans sang “Go Cubs, Go” for the third straight time. The Cubs are now 11-10 and look to go 12-10 behind Cole Hamels tonight when he takes on RHP Walker Buehler and the rest of the Dodgers at 8:05 eastern, 7:05 (local) central time.
