NEWSLETTER
Muuuuuuuuuch better.
But first, the bad stuff.
For the second straight game, the Cubs couldn’t get anything going against a Marlins starter; only this time, that starter was not an established big leaguer like Jesus Luzardo. Nope, for what felt like the millionth time in the last decade, the Cubs had a hard time against a young, struggling arm making his Major League debut. The 24-year-old Roddery Muñoz had struck out a TOTAL of seven batters in his three Triple-A starts so far this season, while allowing 13 ER in 10.2 IP. But against the Cubs tonight, Muñoz matched that strikeout total (7) in just five innings of 2-run baseball.
But all’s well that ends well. Because after a couple of solo homers from Cody Bellinger (of course he homered on 4/20) and Alexander Canario (same big swing, only this time he connected), the Cubs kept pouring on. I suppose the truth is that they had a little help from the Marlins, who cut off a would-be outfield assist with Christopher Morel dead-to-rights at the plate (and also had a costly missed play from Tim Anderson that led to a run). But baseball’s gonna baseball.
Shota Imanaga allowed his first earned run(s) tonight, and didn’t have his best command … but it was still another great outing: 6.0 IP, 5H, 3R, 2ER, 0BB, 5Ks. He’s walked a TOTAL of just two batters all season. He’s so, so good.
Ben Brown followed Imanaga with a couple of scoreless innings of relief (2H, 3Ks), which we’ll talk about tomorrow. And Hector Neris came in to save it (unless you’re planing to use Ben Brown again tomorrow after Kyle Hendricks, I don’t really understand why Brown didn’t just finish this game, but who cares now, I guess).
Cubs win. Cubs split the double-header. Cubs give themselves a chance to win the series tomorrow.
All thanks to our three Kings.
