NEWSLETTER
Cubs win! Cubs sweep! There was drama late – there always is – but the Cubs got it done! What an impressive series sweep over the Astros, especially considering all the injuries. So awesome.
But it didn’t start that way – at least, not offensively.
Nico Hoerner (three hits) and Mike Tauchman (three walks) reached base back-to-back in each of their first three plate appearances in this game. And the bases were even loaded with no outs in the first. But the Cubs failed to cash in each and every time. Over and over. It was pretty brutal. And very frustrating.
However, the efforts of Hoerner and Tauchman – plus some long plate appearances from a few others – helped chase Justin Verlander after just 4.1 IP. And that’s when the Cubs were finally able to break through.
After a single, a stolen base, and an infield single, Miguel Amaya helped push the Cubs first run across the board with an in-betweener out to right field. That’s when Pete Crow-Armstrong stepped up to the plate showing bunt. But because the first pitch was WAY high and wild, Amaya scurried over to second base freely, turning off the bunt sign for PCA. And that was a particularly fortuitous turn of events, because on the very next pitch, Pete Crow-Armstrong notched his first hit in MLB … a no-doubter, go-ahead home run to right field. It was a thing of beauty.
And thanks to a couple of brilliant pitching performances from Hayden Wesneski and Javier Assad, that was all the Cubs needed. I left out Hector Neris there, because even though he was able to get the save, it wasn’t a very convincing performance. The top of the Astros order is really tough, but he just doesn’t look like a long-term solution to the Cubs current closer issues.
Anyway, it would be really easy for me to give special attention to PCA for his first hit/homer, Hayden Wesneski for another dominant outing, or the Cubs in general for the sweep. But forget all that. This game and this win was all due to Javier Assad. What. A. Freakin’. Stud.
The first two batters reached against Assad in this game, but after that, he sat down 13 straight Astros, allowing the only run to score on a sac fly in the first. Assad’s final line: 5.2 IP, 4H, 1ER, 1BB, 5Ks.
The four hits on the day? One was a hard hit grounder. But the other three? An 84.5 MPH groundball single, a 68.2 MPH bloop single, and a 57.4 MPH bloop single. He is just pitching lights out right now. It’s really incredible. We’ll dig in further tomorrow, but what a great start to his season. And such a relief given all the injuries the Cubs have been facing.
Man. These Cubs. They are facing a lot of adversity right now, but they just keep on keeping on. It is really fun.
