OSS: What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to drive them before you, to hear the lamentations of their fanbase.
Three up:
- Ben Zobrist was the WPA hero of the day, mostly due to a three run homer in the third inning that ended up as the nominal GWRBI. You just can’t make any mistakes against this Cubs lineup – this homer followed a rare error by Pirates superstar Andrew McCutchen on a knuckling liner off the bat of Rizzo which would have ended the inning at a scoreless tie.
- Lester’s line on the day (5.2 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 2BB, 5K) was good in the stat that matters most, but it had a very nonuniform distribution of baserunners. He cruised through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the fourth, clogging the bases with no one out. He struck out two of the next three batters to get out of the jam. He reached back and struck out Freese and Marte in the fifth with runners on the corners, and was eventually chased in the sixth after putting two men on with two outs in a 4-0 game. Most notably though, he managed to pull off the throw-the-glove-to-1B play for the second time in his Cubs tenure.
- Aside from the above-mentioned ROE by Rizzo, he also homered and doubled in this game. Bryzzo Souvenir Co. might need to hire a few assistants with the volume of authenticated merchandise they’ve been putting out.
Three down:
- Look, I’m not the biggest Jorge Soler cheerleader around these parts, but why the hell didn’t he start this game?
- I guess we can complain that super utility pitcher Adam Warren gave up a homer. I like Warren but I’m worried the Cubs are leaning on him a little too much so far this year.
- The Cubs need to send a few baskets of fries over to the Pirates clubhouse when they visit next week, there’s definitely an excess of salt around Sean “Coolersbane” Rodriguez.
Next up: The Cubs head back to Wrigley to start a ten game homestand, beginning with a four game set against what looks like their main competition for the best record in the NL this season. Joe Ross faces Kyle Hendricks at 7:05 PM CT.