Postgame Wrap: Cubs 9, A’s 5; Arrieta Strong; Munenori “Bombasaki”! (Video)

Jake Arrieta was strong today as he threw 102 pitches in five innings, a surprisingly high number of pitches considering that he was dealing with a blister on his finger. The blister is clearly not an issue. He surrendered only one run on two hits and two walks, while striking out five batters. The Cubs won by the score of 9 to 5 (box score).

There were lots of home runs today, which, of course, is a nice recurring theme from spring training lately. I don’t think I’d be going out on a limb by saying the Cubs are going to score a lot of runs this year. What will be really fun to see is who leads the team in home runs at the end of the year. So many choices…

Schwarber, Russell, Szczur, Ross and Kawasaki all went deep today for the Cubs. It was great to see Kyle get his first home run of the spring, which is actually a little hard to believe, but I checked the stats and it’s true.

Munenori’s “Bombasaki” gets first place for most awesome home run today. The Cubs were already up 6 to 3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, it’s possible a few too many beers had been consumed by some fans, who started an echoing chant, “Ka-wa-sa-ki, Ka-wa-sa-ki,” and boy did he respond. It was a thing of beauty and you can watch it here:

Kudos to Matt Szczur, who, after getting the news before the game that he made the 25-man opening day roster, went out and put on an impressive offensive display, going 3 for 3 with a two-run home run, a double, and a stolen base. It was a great day for Matt and he deserved it.

The Cubs play their final spring training game of the year in Arizona tomorrow as they take on the Rockies with Jon Lester on the mound at 3:05 CDT.