The Rundown: An Unlikely Cubs Hero, Zobrist Pulls a Rudy, Maddon Wants to Stay, Iowa Cubs Score 15 in One Inning

Photo of Michael Canter Michael CanterApril 29, 2019

I had no intentions of watching the Cubs game yesterday. In fact, I went to an early dinner, saw Avengers: Endgame, and went to tour the condo I am moving into next month…and still got home in plenty of time to watch the last three innings.

The 6-5 win by Chicago was every bit the thriller that the final movie of this iteration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was. Spoiler alert: The Cubs scored three times in the top of the 15th inning to take the lead in what seemed like a certain victory, then held on after the Diamondbacks scored twice in the bottom of the inning. Ben Zobrist and the magnificent Tyler Chatwood were veteran leaders Tony Stark and Steve Rogers in earning the victory.

Yes, I used magnificent to describe Chatwood. Despite excellent bullpen management by Joe Maddon (yes, I just said that, too), the Cubs were nearing the bottom of their pitching staff barrel when Mr. Spin Rate held the Diamondbacks in check for an inning and a third. He even scored a run on Zobrist’s two-run double after doubling to deep right during Chicago’s late-inning rally.

Allen Webster got Nick Ahmed on a fly ball to the warning track with a runner on first to end the game and earn the save. Talk about an endgame.

It was a more than excellent way to take the rubber game of the series, and the Cubs will head to Seattle for a two-game set with the Mariners to close the six-game road trip. Chicago sports a 14-12 record and sits two and a half games behind the division leading Cardinals.

Cubs News & Notes

How About That!

The Red Sox were swept by the Rays, Chris Sale is now 0-5, and Boston is 7.5 games behind Tampa in the AL East. The Red Sox boast all the earmarks of the dreaded World Series hangover.

Despite so many offseason additions, after 28 games the Phillies have the same 16-12 record that they had at this point last season. This year’s team has a better vibe however.

Yankees players keep getting injured at an alarming and disturbing rate. New York actually had to use pitcher J.A. Happ as a pinch hitter in yesterday’s game.

Luke Voit has a 39-game on-base streak after going 3-for-4 with a walk yesterday. The hulking first baseman is carrying the Yankees right now.

All-world Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich injured his back in yesterday’s 5-2 loss to the Mets. He’ll be evaluated today before the team makes an announcement regarding the injury. Yelich dealt with back issues last season but overcame them with a huge second half, hitting .367 with 25 homers in his final 65 games.

The Twins hit 12 homers in their three-game sweep of the Orioles, including four by Max Kepler. They hit five taters for the second consecutive game yesterday.

The Rangers and Mariners completed the ugliest series in baseball so far this year. Texas won the final two of the three game set 15-1 and 14-1, respectively. Seattle won the opener by a score of 14-2.

Four players have hit 14 or more home runs before May 1 in the history of baseball and it’s been done twice already this season.

The White Sox finished with a team-record 20 strikeouts in yesterday’s game against the Tigers.

Albert Pujols opened the weekend by passing Lou Gehrig on the career RBI list and ended it by moving past Barry Bonds.

Fernando Tatis Jr. suffered a freak injury that is just awful to watch. You’ve been warned.

Sunday’s Three Stars

  1. Reynaldo López – The White Sox starter struck out 14 Detroit batters over six innings, which is simply insane. He allowed an unearned run on two hits with three walks in Chicago’s 4-1 win, in case you care about those things.
  2. Cody Bellinger – With a home run yesterday, the Dodgers’ 1B/OF is hitting .427/.500/.913 with 36 RBI and joined an exclusive club of players with 14 home runs before May 1.
  3. Tyler Glasnow – The Ray’s No. 2 starter allowed two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out nine over 6.2 innings on the way to a win Sunday against the Red Sox

Extra Innings

I can’t even. At standard ballpark beverage rates, that’s probably about $12 worth of wasted beer on Ryan Braun, of all people. Oh, the humanity.

They Said It

  • “I’ve played with Matty [Andriese] since I was 7 or 8. He was in my wedding, so I’ve known him for a while.” – Tyler Chatwood.
  • “Yeah, [giving my starting position to David Bote] was the right call. The right team call. You can’t have that guy sitting the day after he looks so good. I feel like it was the right team thing.” – Ben Zobrist
  • “Right now I feel like I’m in the mid-1980s Instructional League with the Angels right down the street the way I’m dealing with the day. It’s wide open. There’s a lot of room for creativity and change. An openness about the players I haven’t experienced in a while. There’s a lot of stuff going on that I feel is fascinating.” – Joe Maddon
  • “I am Iron Man.” – Tony Stark

Monday Walk Up Song

One Week by the Barenaked Ladies. May is nearly here. We had a snowstorm on Saturday. Temperatures could hit the low 70’s for this weekend’s big series against the first-place Cardinals at Wrigley Field.

Photo of Michael Canter Michael CanterApril 29, 2019
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