NEWSLETTER
Officially, this one goes down as an 8-8 tie between the Cubs and Mariners, so fly that T. Still undefeated, though!
The Cubs blew their first lead of the spring when Tommy Nance, a non-roster invitee who otherwise showed some good stuff, gave up a two-run 9th inning homer to tie the game at eight. Then again, the Cubs *kinda* won, because on the offensive side, they had two innings called because they were just taking too long for the opposing pitcher. You know, too many baserunners, not enough outs. Spring Training. (OK, so the Mariners also did it once … but two is more than one! So Cubs win-ish!)
Zach Davies cruised through his two innings of work, which is fine but not absolutely necessary. An established guy like him, you just want to see him getting in his work. He is happy to have fans back:
https://twitter.com/NBCSCubs/status/1367234922155552768
Behind Davies, Andrew Chafin, Jason Adam, Kohl Stewart, and James Norwood, among others made their debuts. Also Brandon Workman, who ran into some trouble. Given how much velocity everyone else has been showing in the early part of spring, the velo certainly stands out, but he’s generally only a 93-94 mph guy anyway:
Workman's outing started off well, striking out Kyle Lewis on 3 pitches: curveball, curveball, fastball.
Rest of inning: 2B, E6, pop out, Kelenic 2-run HR off fastball perhaps slightly wind aided & a swinging K.
Command was spotty. Four seamer sat 91-92 mph on stadium gun.
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) March 3, 2021
As for the outing itself, meh. Without the error he gets out of it. Without the wind, Workman doesn’t give up the homer. Still managed two strikeouts.
The Cubs got loooong (no wind necessary) homers from Joc Pederson, Anthony Rizzo, and Michael Hermosillo, who apparently did not get the “dead ball” memo:
Our first home run of the spring belongs to @yungjoc650! pic.twitter.com/JBVvrybh0r
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1367236227762585605
Michael Hermosillo with the HR! #Cubs@mhermosillo10 pic.twitter.com/LVT9PFOv0V
— Cubs Zone ™️ (@CubsZone) March 3, 2021
Hermosillo, by the way, has always hit lefties very well. That’ll be a factor in whether he gets a shot to make the big league team at any point this year.
It was fun to see the Cubs on ESPN, though you do have to put up with some painful in-game interviews to enjoy the rare good one. The latter included an interview of Javy Báez and Anthony Rizzo – the latter of whom had to duck out to take an at bat. We learned that Javy really likes watching Anthony hit, and also he wants Rizzo’s boat:
Báez’s reaction to Rizzo getting robbed in right field pic.twitter.com/BhimUQGQFz
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) March 3, 2021
Javy Baez on what he would ask Anthony Rizzo, if he (Javy) could ask anything: "Can I use your boat?" pic.twitter.com/10xDM2FeSX
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) March 3, 2021
A+ content. pic.twitter.com/kLKSbrsUyn
— OBVIOUS SHIRTS® (@obvious_shirts) March 3, 2021
Brennen Davis is just a magnet for scary HBP, after twice being injured in HBP in 2019. So please don’t do this:
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP HITTING BRENNEN DAVIS pic.twitter.com/kyuPk9wwl5
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) March 3, 2021
