Cubs 7, Brewers 4 (4.9.17)

OSS: The bats are waking up.

Three up

The box score had Heyward at 2-5 on the day, but it could just easily have been 5-5. He was hitting the cover off the ball today, which is certianly a great sign for a guy who struggled so much last season. He knocked in three of the Cubs runs.
Kris Bryant also broke out of his mini-slump, going 3-4 with some good contact.
Jake Arrieta calmed down those who were worried about the funky velocity readings from his first start, striking out ten and walking two in a relatively efficient seven innings. His only real mistake on the day was depositied over the wall by Ryan Braun, but as they say, the other guys get paid too. I think his velocity is still a little down relative to expectations with the new system, but the results seem fine enough.

Three down

While Bryant and Heyward are breaking out of their week/season long slumps, Rizzo has looked a little lost at the plate of late. He went 0-5 today and as was pointed out on the radio broadcast, was letting pitches go by that he usually crushes.
Hector Rondon looked like himself again with the first two batters he faced, then gave up a solo shot to Domingo Santana. I'm inclined to give more credit to Santana than blame on Rondon, and expected his flipped-switchness to continue.
I don't have much else to complain about. Rizzo needs to grab some of Szczur's bats while he is still around.

Next up: The Cubs raise their World Series banner in the Wrigley Field opener against the Dodgers. They dodge Hill and Kershaw in this series.

Comments

Smokestack Lightning

April 9, 2017 at 5:05 pm

Super thrilled for Heyward. I don’t think he hit five baseballs hard all last year.

Smokestack LightningQuote Reply

Rizzo the Rat

April 9, 2017 at 5:18 pm

I was more annoyed by the walk before the Braun homer, personally.

Rizzo the RatQuote Reply

cerulean

April 9, 2017 at 6:20 pm

On Rondon, he caught a lot more of the plate than he wanted to. I don’t think his command is there even if his control is. The sliders he threw as a wipeout pitch weren’t fooling Santana. I’d much rather he throw another and walk him that give him three fastballs in a row, the last of which found itself on the wrong side of the yellow line.

ceruleanQuote Reply

Rizzo the Rat

April 9, 2017 at 6:21 pm

cerulean,

With a four-run lead in the ninth? Hell no. A walk is almost as bad as a home run there.

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Berselius is too lazy to login

April 9, 2017 at 6:24 pm

Per Jesse Rogers, all five of Heyward’s balls in play were 95+ mph exit velocity. That feat was only accomplished by anyone just 17 times last season.

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Berselius is too lazy to login

April 9, 2017 at 6:26 pm

cerulean,

It sounded like his sliders were pretty good against his first batter, though in just going off of Pat and Coomer’s reactions.

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dmick89

April 9, 2017 at 6:58 pm

Arrieta looked good, but both Joe and Jake himself confirmed the velocity drop. That could just be age though. He didn’t look injured and I’m not going to worry about velocity as long as he’s effective.

dmick89Quote Reply

cerulean

April 9, 2017 at 7:34 pm

Rizzo the Rat,

It was something like a nine pitch AB. If he walks, you tip your cap. Rondon caught too much of the plate after too many fouled off fastballs in a row.

Last year after he came back, I seem to recall that he gave up a ton of hard contact. I think it was with his fastball. It seems like he’s either not generating the movement on his fastball and/or grooving them. Today he grooved one. Little wonder what happened to it. The pre-injury Rondon was less prone to this kind of contact.

ceruleanQuote Reply