Cubs 4, Pirates 3 (6.18.16)

In Commentary And Analysis by berselius7 Comments

OSS: Javy Baez keeps the game close and the Cubs bomb their way to victory.

Three up:

  1. Javy Baez’s statline looked pretty pedestrian, but he had a huge game. This “it’s magic”-esque slide led to the Cubs second run, and two fantastic defensive plays kept the game close.
  2. Bryant, Rizzo, and Grandpa all hit solo shots in this game. Bryant’s might still be in orbit somewhere.
  3. Maddon brought out Rondon in the eighth with a runner on second and he nailed down the four out save.

Three down:

  1. Dexter Fowler left in the first inning with a hamstring injury. There has not been any news on the severity yet though the Cubs seem to be downplaying it a bit, and he is scheduled for an MRI sometime today. If the Cubs didn’t already have a raft of injuries they’d probably DL him to give him a bit of a rest, but now I’m not so sure who the next man up would even be. Kalish again? Big Red?
  2. It was kind of a strange start for Lester, though he ended up with the most nominal of quality starts. He gave up a leadoff HR on his first pitch and issued three walks in the first, and issued a run-scoring HBP in the fourth. Sequencing is a strange beast.
  3. Baez’s great day in the field isn’t accounted for in WPA so he was actually the negative WPA leader on the day for the Cubs, mostly due to a GIDP with the bases clogged in the seventh. I guess he was just trying to do Rondon a solid.

Next up: The Cubs go for the sweep tonight with Kyle Hendricks on the mound facing Jameson Taillon on Sunday Night Baseball.

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  3. cerulean

    I really like the Bryant/Almora/Heyward outfield with Baez at third and Szczur and Coghlan off the bench, but it gets thin beyond that. Any chance Willson finds his way onto the field not facing the pitcher?

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  4. cerulean

    Schwarber, Soler, La Stella, Szczur, Baez, Montero, and Heyward have all missed more than a series with injuries. For all the bad luck, they’ve been exceptionally fortunate that the injury bug hit them where they are deepest.

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  5. dmick89

    cerulean,

    I’d assume Contreras will begin to see some pinch hits late in games when Montero is catching. I think one of the main reasons they called him up is being overlooked. Maddon said the team had to improve defensively behind home and a day later Contreras is called up. Maddon was talking about Miggy’s throws, which have been complete shit. I think Contreras is going to see more playing time than a lot of people expect. I just don’t think it’s going to be immediate. I think we’ll see the occasional start, more and more pinch hits and defensive replacements for him and eventually he will be catching 3 of 5 games. Maybe even this year. I actually think that is what they’re hoping will happen, but obviously it’s going to depend on how he performs.

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