Yesterday, I went to see the Cubs vs Giants at beautiful Wrigley Field. The game was very fun, as the Cubs took a well-earned win against the Giants who put up some solid performances, but fell short due to some of the pitching performances and lack of hits from some of their solid hitters.
The day started off pretty nice with some perfect weather in the 80s and a clear blue sky. Of course, like any baseball game, I was pumped up for the game because I hadn’t seen the Giants in a while and I was excited to see the new faces on the team like Longoria and McCutchen. I was also excited about the pitching matchup with Kyle Hendricks pitching for the Cubs and Derek Holland pitching for the Giants. As I was on the train heading over to the game, I was also getting excited because of the starting lineups for each team.
San Francisco Giants:
- Gorkys Hernández – CF
- Andrew McCutchen – RF
- Buster Posey – C
- Brandon Belt – 1B
- Evan Longoria – 3B
- Brandon Crawford – SS
- Mac Williamson – LF
- Kelby Tomlinson – 2B
- Derek Holland – SP
Chicago Cubs:
- Ben Zobrist – RF
- Albert Almora Jr. – CF
- Kris Bryant – 3B
- Anthony Rizzo – 1B
- Willson Contreras – C
- Javier Báez – 2B
- Ian Happ – LF
- Addison Russell – SS
- Kyle Hendricks – SP
I was really hoping for the Cubs to take the win and I liked our odds, especially with the pitching matchup. Hendricks, before the game, had a 3.40 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 44 strikeouts, 11 walks, and 21 earned runs in 55.2 innings pitched. Holland, before the game, had a 4.94 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 42 strikeouts, 20 walks, and 26 earned runs in 47.1 innings pitched.
The game started off at 1:20 with Hendricks pitching against Hernández, McCutchen, and Posey. Nothing really exciting or tense went on, although the Cubs had a slight scare with a huge fly ball to right field hit by McCutchen, although Zobrist was able to catch it well. The bottom of the first, however, was an exciting inning for the Cubs. Zobrist led off, and after one ball he hit a single to left field. Almora was up next, and after fouling off two pitches, he hit a single to left field as well. Bryant was up next, and a passed ball by Posey got runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, however, Bryant struck out swinging. Then Rizzo came up, and after taking a strike he hit a single to left field, scoring Zobrist and almost Almora, although he was thrown out at the plate, giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Contreras came up next, but took one ball then grounded out to Crawford.
Nothing very interesting happened again until the 4th inning with Hernández leading off the inning. He took a strike and fouled off a pitch before taking a 79 mph changeup deep to left center field for a 374 foot home run which also was the first hit and baserunner for the Giants and tied the game 1-1. The rest of the inning had nothing interesting happen, as McCutchen grounded out to Russell, Posey struck out swinging, and Belt grounded out to Rizzo. The Cubs had an uneventful attempt to take back the lead, as Báez grounded out to Longoria, Happ struck out swinging, and Russell popped out to Posey.
The next scoring opportunities happened in the 7th inning. Baez got hit by the pitch after taking a strike, 2 balls, and fouled off a pitch. Then he stole 2nd with Happ batting before Happ walked on a full count. With men on 1st and 2nd with no outs, Russell hit a perfect bunt to get runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out and Tommy La Stella on deck. With this, Holland was taken out of the game and replaced by Will Smith. Smith walked La Stella, bringing up Zobrist with the bases loaded. They also took out Smith and brought in Cory Gearrin. On the first pitch, Zobrist drove a double to left field, scoring Baez and Happ, bringing La Stella to third, and giving the Cubs a 3-1 lead. Almora came up and struck out swinging, bringing up Bryant. After taking a strike, Bryant drove a hit to center field, scoring La Stella and Zobrist, and giving the Cubs a 5-1 lead. Rizzo then came up and walked after taking a full count, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. On the first pitch afterward, Contreras popped out to Tomlinson, ending the inning.
The next inning, Hunter Strickland started it off, beginning by getting Báez to ground out to Crawford after swinging at a pitch and taking a ball. Next, Happ walked on 5 pitches then stole 2nd with Russell at the plate. Russell took 3 balls and a strike before hitting a ground ball to center field, scoring Happ, and giving the Cubs a 6-1 lead. Next, Heyward came up and grounded into a double play after taking a strike and a ball to end the inning.
Next, in the top of the 9th, Pedro Strop came up and got McCutchen to strike out swinging on 3 pitches and got Posey to ground out to Russell. This brought the Cubs one out away from getting a win, but Belt came up and hit a fly ball to left field, getting him a single which was the first hit the Giants got other than from Hernández. With Longoria batting, Belt got to 2nd on defensive indifference and after taking a ball and swinging at a strike, he hit a ground ball to Heyward, scoring Belt and giving them a 6-2 lead. This brought Strop out of the game and brought in Brian Duensing with Crawford up and a man on 1st. After 9 pitches and a full count, Crawford got a walk, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs. This brought in Brandon Morrow with a save opportunity and Mac Williamson at the plate. He swung at a pitch, took a strike, and swung at the final pitch of the game, giving the Cubs the win.
Game Performances:
San Francisco Giants:
Hitting:
- Gorkys Hernández – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R, 2 SO, 1 1B
- Andrew McCutchen – 0-3, 1 BB, 1 SO
- Buster Posey – 0-4, 1 SO
- Brandon Belt – 1-4, 1 R, 1 1B
- Evan Longoria – 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 SO, 1 1B
- Brandon Crawford – 0-2, 2 BB
- Mac Williamson – 0-4, 3 SO
- Kelby Tomlinson – 0-3, 2 SO
- Derek Holland – 0-2, 1 SO
- Grégor Blanco – 0-1
Pitching:
- Derek Holland – Loss, 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO
- Will Smith – 0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO
- Cory Gearrin – 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO
- Hunter Strickland – 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO
Chicago Cubs:
Hitting:
- Ben Zobrist – 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 SO, 1 2B, 1 1B
- Albert Almora Jr. – 1-4, 1 SO, 1 1B
- Kris Bryant – 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 SO, 2 1B
- Anthony Rizzo – 1-2, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 1B
- Willson Contreras – 0-4, 1 SO
- Javier Báez – 0-3, 1 R
- Ian Happ – 0-2, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 SO
- Addison Russell – 2-3, 1 RBI, 2 1B
- Kyle Hendricks – 0-2, 1 SO
- Tommy La Stella – 0-0, 1 R, 1 BB
- Jason Heyward – 0-1
Pitching:
- Kyle Hendricks – Win, 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO
- Carl Edwards Jr. – 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO
- Pedro Strop – 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Brian Duensing: 0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO
- Brandon Morrow: Save, 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
The MLB Enthusiast 