A Tip of the Recap – July 22nd (Game 2)
In what is already being dubbed as the Teagarden Game (on Twitter, tongue firmly in cheek), the Cubs came from behind and won by a score of 6-5 over the Reds to earn a split today and in the series after Taylor Teagarden hit the go-ahead RBI single off of Aroldis Chapman in the top of the 9th.
The Good
The Cubs were put in an early hole due to some less than great pitching and shoddy defense, but answered a 5-spot from the Reds in the 2nd with one of their own to tie the game in the top of the 3rd.
Joe Maddon may have been the star of that inning because he chose to pull Dallas Beeler after Bryan Price (Reds manager) decided to intentionally walk the .181 hitting David Ross (loading the bases) to get to the pitcher’s spot. Maddon scoffed at Price’s move and pulled Beeler for some kid named Kris Bryant (who didn’t get the start), who delivered with a 2-run single to LF to tie things up at 5 (54 RBI now).
Bryant stayed in to play the rest of the game after that and contributed with 2 more stolen bases to give him 10 on the year; his speed is really an underrated part of his game.
Fowler, Rizzo, and Russell each had 2 hits with Fowler and Rizzo each hitting a double (Fowler’s 14th and Rizzo’s 25th). Russell also drew a walk to get him on base 3 times today. Fowler and Rizzo each stole a base as well (Fowler’s 15th and Rizzo’s 13th).
Starlin Castro hit a run-scoring double to get the rally started in the 3rd, giving him just 9 doubles and 40 RBI. A few hitters later, Chris Denorfia hit a 2-run double to give him 8 doubles, 13 RBI and a .296 AVG on the year.
The pen was outstanding and really shut the Reds down for the rest of the game. Travis Wood and Pedro Strop did a lot of the heavy lifting with Wood going 2.1 scoreless innings and Strop going 1.2 scoreless with 4 Ks. Rafael Soriano pitched a solid inning and Hector Rondon got the win (4-2 now on the year), as he worked around some trouble to keep the Reds off the board (thanks to a well-placed deflection off of his own hip to Rizzo to force a guy at home).
Jason Motte slammed the door in the bottom of the 9th surrendering just 1 hit and striking out 2 to locked down his 6th save of the year.
The Bad
Beeler only made it through 2 innings and he gave up 5 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits and 2 walks, with 0 Ks. He had some bad luck and Castro did boot a sure double play grounder, but he was getting hit hard at times and didn’t look like he was long for the game anyway. Luckily, Joe pulled him when he did.
Other than that though, a win is a win and it gave the Cubs a 4-3 record on the road trip, which isn’t too bad at all.
On Deck
The Cubs and the pen will fortunately have a day off tomorrow before they start a series at Wrigley with the Phillies. Game 1 is set for Friday with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 PM (CST) on WGN. Jon Lester (5-8, 3.37) will get the call in game 1 against familar face Jerome Williams (3-7, 6.43) of the Phillies.