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Game 11 Recap: Cubs 6 Rockies 2

Top Play (WPA): When you’re in a bad mood—say, after you’ve just lost a major-league baseball game, and your team has committed four errors in the process—it can help the soul to hit things. The harder the better. That’s probably what Anthony Rizzo had in mind when he came to plate in the fourth inning of a tie game on Saturday. Tie game? Naw. I’m gonna hit the hell outta this one. And so he did, on the first pitch of the sequence. It turned out to be a home run (+0.133), as these things so often do with the Cubs’ young first baseman. And Rizzo had barely finished rounding the bases when Jorge Soler, he of the newly-found plate discipline, sent yet another Christian Bergman pitch sailing high into the cloudless sky, soon to land, much chastened, in the left-field bleachers (+0.104). It was a lead the Cubs would never relinquish.

Bottom Play (WPA): Remember yesterday, when every ball hit by Chicago batters seemed to go the Rockies’ way? It felt like that, a little bit, in the early going in this one too. Soler led off the second inning with a clean single to left field, and Javier Baez (making his season debut) followed that start by legging out an infield single to third base. That put runners on first and second with nobody out, and brought Addison Russell to the plate with a chance to put the Cubs ahead in the game. Russell’s been hitting well lately, and seeing a lot of pitches, but it only took two pitches for him to roll over on one to shortstop, setting up the double play (-0.106) and allowing the Rockies to get out of the inning unharmed. No matter. They’d come get ‘em later.

Key Moment: One of the first games I covered in person last year was Jake Arrieta’s 20th win. That’s a game that came as part of this extraordinary home scoreless streak at Wrigley (now at 48 2/3 innings), and it was notable to me because of how it started: Scooter Gennett, the Brewers’ leadoff hitter, kicked off the matchup with a sharp double into the left field corner. Usually, this kind of thing would rattle a pitcher. It would throw him off his game, or at the very least make him think twice about being quite as aggressive with future batters. Not Arrieta. He retired Logan Schafer, Adam Lind, and Kris Davis in order to end the first, and ended up pitching a complete game shutout. I was reminded of that today when Dustin Garneau doubled to right to lead off the third. That kind of thing just doesn’t bother Arrieta. He’s too cool, calm, and collected to let it. And it didn’t. He moved on, and ended up throwing eight shutout innings. So, yeah, I’ll give the “key moment” designation to the time Garneau doubled and it meant nothing to Jake Arrieta’s baseball game. He’s a special pitcher.

Trend to Watch: On a day when power was all the rage (Dexter Fowler also homered, as did Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies, and even David Ross had a deep sacrifice fly), I’d like to highlight a power hitter who actually makes most of his contributions in other phases of the game. I’m speaking, of course, about Javy Baez. Sure, his ferocious swing will be what gets the scouts talking, but his speed on the basepaths—remember, he had an infield single today—his ability to play all over the field, and his laser-like throwing arm will be what allows him to contribute to this lineup in the super-utility role Joe Maddon has laid out for him this year. Keep an eye on Baez moving forward: he’s a really solid all-around baseball player, even when he’s not doing things that are particularly astonishing with the bat. And when he does …

Coming Next: The Cubs will look to win their fourth consecutive series tomorrow afternoon in a third consecutive day game at Wrigley. Righty Tyler Chatwood will take the mound for the Rockies, where he’ll (one imagines) aspire to an outing that looks rather more like his first, against the Diamondbacks (6 1/3 innings, one earned run and three strikeouts) and less like his second, against the Giants (six innings, five earned run and two strikeouts). He throws his fastball in the low 90s, mixing in a slider and a curve on occasion. All are fine; none are special. Look for a lefty-heavy lineup for Chicago, excepting Ross (who will catch). Opposing Chatwood for the Cubs will be Jon Lester, who will similarly seek to rekindle the magic of his first start of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 1:20 CT, and the game will be broadcast on WGN.

Lead photo courtesy Dennis Wierzbicki—USA Today Sports.

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1 comment on “Game 11 Recap: Cubs 6 Rockies 2”

PolitiJim (@politiJim)

I would argue things to be concerned about , or to watch are Travis Wood’s total ineffectiveness and Javy Baez wild pitch discipline. I say wild because in his last two at bats he looked as bad as he did at the worst point last year, and his late hit came off of a pitch a foot outside of the strike zone. i wish I could claim this was some exceptional talent, but he is no Castro when it comes to contact.

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