Cubs 3, Brewers 0 (4.28.18)

In Postgame by berselius41 Comments

OSS: Q and the defense shut things down.

Three up:

  1. Jose Quintana crushed it today, pitching seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts and just two hits and one walk. The conditions were funky enough that I wouldn't read too much into the hits number, but it was great to see him commanding the strike zone. He also got an easy pickoff of Santana late in the game when it was still 1-0.
  2. Both teams struggled with the sun and wind in this one, but the Cubs ended up making the tough plays when it counted this time. Almora bailed out Schwarber on a ball he lost in the sun, and Javy and Zobrist both made some slick plays on the infield to help the shutout stand up.
  3. Jason Heyward led the Cubs in WPA in this game, mostly thanks to a gapper in the seventh that eventually led to some Cubs insurance runs. He also perfectly deked out Christian Yelich on La Stella's bloop single in the ensuing PA – he stopped at third expecting Yelich to throw home, Yelich saw this and held on to the ball figuring the play was over, then Heyward dashed to the plate once all of Yelich's momentum disappeared. Brerrors defense!

Three down:

  1. War Bear got a hit, but struck out in his other three plate appearances. Between this and losing that ball in the sun, it was not his best day.
  2. Rizzo had another rough game, going 0-4. He's been making decent contact and going the other way while he tries to bust out of this early season slump, but so far he can't get going.
  3. The Cardinals-Pirates game ended in regulation. It would have been nice to see the Cards have to go into extras for the third game in a row, but at least it was their third blown lead in a row by their failpen.

Next up: Cubs go for the four-game sweep with Tyler Chatwood on the mound facing Zach Davies. First pitch at 1:20 PM CT>

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  1. Author
    berselius

    I played softball for the first time since 2010 or so, and my skills would have done the 2010 Cubes proud. At least I hit one out of the infield. I struck out against one guy who decided that quick-pitching in a beer league softball game was a normal thing that teams do.

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  2. cerulean

    According to Statcast, both Rizzo and Heyward are really underperforming their xwOBA—Heyward by about 75 points, Rizzo by over 100.

    Guess who the only Cub to egregiously overperform based on the quality of contact is?

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  3. Myles

    cerulean:
    According to Statcast, both Rizzo and Heyward are really underperforming their xwOBA—Heyward by about 75 points, Rizzo by over 100.

    Guess who the only Cub to egregiously overperform based on the quality of contactis?

    Ian Stewart?

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  4. Senior Rockies Correspondent Berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    Almora
    Baez
    Bryant
    Rizzo
    Contreras
    Schwarber
    Russell
    Heyward
    Chatwood

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  5. cerulean

    The #12 Pirates org prospect (per MLB Pipeline) debuts with a perfect game through 6, finishing with 1H, 9K, 0 BB in 7 IP.
    #fireTheo

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  6. cerulean

    Rizzo the Rat:
    cerulean,

    Funny thing is, he still gets this “Why does this keep happening to me?” expression every time he gets hit.

    Let’s hope his feeling of undeserved persecution at the hands of pitchers leads to some long distance revenge. “I have a very particular set of skills…”

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  7. Rizzo the Rat

    There were some wide strike zones for both teams, in addition to the unfavorable (for hitting) weather.

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