A Tip of the Recap March 25th

The Cubs made a comeback at the end but still lost by a score of 3-2 to the Mariners.

The Good

Arismendy Alcantara looks pretty comfortable in the 9th spot of the lineup. He went 2 for 3 with a run scored and is now hitting .343. Alcantara started very slowly this spring, but has been heating up at the right time.

Matt Szczur tripled in the 9th to drive in a run then scored on an error on an Albert Almora ground ball. With the news that Denorfia may not be ready to start the season on time (hamstring), it makes a ton of sense for Szczur to get that spot.

The only thing is his other competition is Ryan Sweeney (who doesn’t have any options left) and with Szczur having options, it may come down to that making the decision for the Cubs.

Pedro Strop, Phil Coke, and Hector Rondon each threw a scoreless inning of work in relief.

Travis Wood was borderline good today, going 5 innings giving up 3 runs (all earned) on 5 hits (1 HR) with 2 walks and 3 Ks. I think that is at least a competitive line and he was able to work around some trouble during his outing, so that is positive enough for me.

The Bad

The Cubs offense only managed 1 walk against 10 Ks and that free pass actually came from Travis Wood. Taijuan Walker was on point all game though and hasn’t given up a run in 18 innings this spring.

So just a matter of the Cubs getting a guy that has been hot all spring.

The Ugly

Not much was ugly; the defense has played better as a whole and after Tuesday’s beatdown this was at least refreshing that Travis Wood could make a decent start

On Deck

The Cubs are back in action on Thursday against the Angels at 3:05 CST and the game is supposed to be televised on ESPN. Eric Jokisch will get his 2nd spring start while Jon Lester will start a minor league game.