These are the afternoons when Wrigley decides to smile on the hitters and does so indiscriminately. Uniform color and allegiances don’t matter. All the runs will be scored when the ball carries over the wall or finds the right spot deep in the recesses of the outfield. Wrigley smiled the brightest on Kris Bryant today, and fittingly, as the sun glinting off of his baby blues can rival shining Lake Michigan on a day like today.
Though the Brewers attempted to capitalize on ten walks from the Chicago pitching staff, Bryant—almost by himself—kept them just far enough behind to prevent any serious threat. This completed a four-game sweep of Milwaukee that included a doubleheader, and even against an offensively weakened Brewers team, those are needed wins. Especially so with a long road trip out west coming up.
On the mound, Jake Arrieta was polished and efficient through the first three innings and then transformed into a different pitcher when the fourth inning started. He would end up with a career high seven walks. Spencer Patton would also struggle in relief, and the Cubs staff as a whole would walk ten Brewers hitters. On a normal day, this means your team loses, but thanks to Kris Bryant, this was not a normal day.
Top Play (WPA): This comes down to a matter of which of Bryant’s hits, and today it was his first home run of the day that pushed the Cubs win probability the highest. In the third inning he followed up Matt Szczur’s single by jumping on a Zach Davies fastball that was left right down the middle, waiting to be redirected into the seats (+.106).
Bottom Play (WPA): It would be tempting to sign Kirk Nieuwenhuis to play for the Cubs, just to see what that would look like. While he is a middling hitter at best against the rest of the league, he thrives against the Cubs. Today, he was 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI, and his three run homer in the fourth inning threatened the comfortable cushion the Cubs had built to that point (-.148).
Key Moment: Kris Bryant was really the key moment himself this afternoon. The Brewers fought back repeatedly, and every time they did, Bryant had an answer. His fourth inning double and sixth inning homer are standouts, but the RBI single in the eighth punctuated his day and the win.
More specifically, when Jake Arrieta’s command just seemed to inexplicably leave him after the third inning, the extra two runs on the back-to-back-to-back doubles from Matt Szczur, Kris Bryant, and Anthony Rizzo in the bottom of the fourth pushed the lead back to five runs. This was valuable cushion even against the Brewers offense, and especially so on a hitter friendly afternoon.
From the other side, two groundouts from Scooter Gennett in the sixth and eighth innings killed potential opportunities for the Brewers to tie the game or even take the lead.
Trend to Watch: Arrieta had been looking closer to his late 2015 self before today, so the seven walks is a bit concerning. More concerning, I’d argue, than the five runs he allowed. A pitcher’s command can be fickle, and Arrieta’s mechanics necessitate precision in order for his command to be there, so when he deviates even slightly, it becomes harder and harder to find the zone. He’s strong enough to compensate most of the time, but today that wasn’t the case. It’s worth remembering, too, that pitchers are more likely to work to keep the ball away from hitters when the ball is carrying, so the extra walks might not be a sign of more to come in his next start.
Willson Contreras will probably see other opportunities to catch for Arrieta, and though Arrieta was his wildest this afternoon, it would be faulty to attribute the command issues to Contreras being behind the plate today. This is some of the experimentation that Henry Druschel wrote about here recently, and it is a necessary thing in the waning weeks of the season. The same can be said of Spencer Patton’s outing today. Using him in a high pressure spot is needed in order to test his mettle and determine his usefulness on a playoff roster.
Jason Heyward got the day off but isn’t going to be benched, at least according to Joe Maddon’s latest comments. It’s an interesting spot because there are capable backup and, at least at the plate, and Hewyard is unquestionably having a career worst year on offense. But, Maddon sheds interesting perspective on this: “if you’re standing in the dugout—and if you don’t know anything else about (his) batting average—you look at our record and you look at him in right field. I can’t be more comfortable with this guy (out there) while we’re playing baseball. He’s such a good baseball player. He’s such a great teammate, (plus) all the things he does that I believe are really important to victory, to a winning attitude, a winning team.” It sounds almost as if he’s saying indirectly that because of their record, the Cubs have the luxury of leaving him out there, even as he struggles to get hits. This forces the question of what Maddon would do if the Cubs were clawing their way to win the division, but thankfully we aren’t there.
Coming Next: It’s getaway day and the Cubs are headed to Colorado right away for a weekend series against the Rockies, the first leg of a lengthy west coast trip that will ultimately send them on to San Diego and Los Angeles. When the Rockies were in Chicago in April, they took two of three just after the Cubs had finished sweeping the Reds at home. Kyle Hendricks (11-7, 2.19) takes the ball in tomorrow’s game for the Cubs, and the Rockies will send Tyler Anderson (4-4, 3.42) to the mound. The game starts at 7:40 pm CT and can be found on CSN and 670 AM.
Lead photo courtesy Kamil Krzaczynski—USA Today Sports