Top Play (WPA): This was a really fun game, though it got a little hairy at the end. The Cubs had a lot of opportunities to score, and made the most of them. No-one, perhaps, enjoyed the offensive explosion more than Kris Bryant, who’s had a rough go of it at the plate lately. In the third inning, trailing by a run, Bryant stepped to the plate against Giants’ starter Matt Cain with Anthony Rizzo on first base and just one out. Bryant battled for a few pitches, fouling three of Cain’s offerings off consecutively, before driving the fourth pitch of the sequence 370-plus feet into the left field bleachers (+0.239). The blast was Bryant’s first since July 27th, and brought him to 15 on the year—a highly respectable number for a rookie. Despite the howls of some denizens of the Twitterverse, Bryant has quietly put up 3.7 fWAR and a 122 wRC+ (leading 2015’s rookie class in the former category). Any feelings of disappointment localized around Bryant are, in a word, misplaced. Maybe there’s a little less power there than was expected, but the overall production has been excellent. Here’s some pleasant video of today’s home run:
Bottom Play (WPA): With the Cubs leading by one run in the third, and runners on first and second with one out, Hendricks came to the plate with every intention—deeply felt, no doubt—to bunt the runners over a base each. Unfortunately, that’s not quite what happened. He pushed the bunt a little too close to the plate, and Buster Posey was able to grab the ball quickly, whip it over to third base to nab Jorge Soler by a step or two, and then watch third baseman Matt Duffy snap the ball across the diamond to complete the double play and end the inning (-0.075). Oddly enough, Hendricks would ground into a double play in the fourth inning as well, pushing a grounder up the middle that led to the first two outs of that inning but nonetheless scored Soler, who this time had started on third base.
Key Moment: Travis Wood has been a very good reliever so far this year. That’s why, when Hendricks got into trouble in the sixth inning of a two-run game, manager Joe Maddon opted to send the lefty out to face Brandon Belt (who’d homered earlier in the game) with one out and runners on first and second. Wood managed to strike Belt out swinging, then got Brandon Crawford to ground out to shorstop to end the threat. He was so effective, in fact, that Maddon left him out there for the seventh inning, which went similarly flawlessly, save a one-out walk to Justin Maxwell. Wood’s ability to pitch the seventh allowed Maddon to save Pedro Strop for the heart of the Giants’ lineup in the eighth, and set up the ninth inning, where Maddon needed to use a couple of different relievers, quite nicely. The Cubs’ bullpen has been quietly solid for a while now, and Wood has been a big part of it. That showed today.
Trend to Watch: It’s too early to tell for sure, but it looks like the offense is back. After scuffling for the better part of a month, the Cubs have now scored 5, 5, 5, 7, and 8 runs in their past five games. When the history of this season is written, it’s likely that chroniclers will give credit for this turnaround to Maddon’s dramatic announcement yesterday that Starlin Castro will be playing off the bench for the foreseeable future. Be prepared for that line of argument, for it is false: the offensive turnaround started somewhat before that, in Milwaukee. That’s where Rizzo started crushing baseballs again, mashing three homers in the first three games, and then driving another pitch out of the park in the finale against Pittsburgh. Addison Russell’s re-emergence, and Dexter Fowler’s continued success in the second half, have been big contributors as well, but it all starts with the big man at first base. In any event, if the offense comes back in a big way, as it seems it might, it’ll do great things for the Cubs’ playoff hopes.
Coming Next: Tomorrow, the Cubs will try to make it a series sweep, as Jake Arrieta gets the ball for Chicago. He’ll face off against San Francisco’s Jake Peavy, who’s a few seasons removed from his heyday in San Diego but is nonetheless still a tricky opponent for a young team. The Cubs’ Jake—Mr. Arrieta—is, in counterpoint, quite likely at the peak of his powers at the moment. His 67 DRA- is seventh-best among National League starters, and his 78 cFIP suggests that he is quite likely to maintain his performance at approximately that level going forward. San Francisco’s Jake, meanwhile, the good Mr. Peavy, has put up marks in those categories of 105 and 104, respectively, over 45 1/3 innings pitched. All of which is to say that, at least on paper, the Cubs have an excellent shot to pick up where they left off today and heading into Milwaukee playing their best baseball of the season. It’s a good time to be a Cubs fan. Onwards.
Lead photo courtesy of Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports