2015 Chicago Cubs --- Road to a Dynasty

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP)-

The game was in hand, the Cubs had taken the Mets to the wire and the player that some have been saying may have been brought up too soon was the hero, even after a scary injury to a fellow rookie, the Cubs had the Mets and the game was all but wrapped up. Then the unthinkable happened, Cubs fans on social media did, what they always do, and placed the blame on one individual. But with that, let's get to the game.

The Mets got to Hammel early with a solo homer by Michael Cuddyer, who no surprise got all of the ball that he hit deep into left field. The Cubs responded with a homer of their own, this one a two run shot by breakout rookie Jorge Soler, his fourth on the young season.

Things then took a turn for the worse for the Cubs when Daniel Murphy hit a fly ball to the Cubs outfielder, Soler, who lost the ball in the sun and had the ball hit him in the head. Soler would be unable to pick up the ball and the Cubs center fielder, Dexter Fowler had to get the ball. This happened with one out and a man on first. The time it took for Fowler to get the ball allowed a run to score and Murphy to reach third.

Soler would come out of the game with a concussion. Soler will miss 2-3 weeks with a concussion.

The following batter, David Wright would knock Murphy in so that the Mets would take the lead over the Cubs 4-3. The game then remained quiet as neighter pitcher was dominant but through a combined 14 innings Jon Niese and Jason Hammel allowed just 9 hits together.

In the bottom of the 8th, down a run, the Cubs had no one on and then an unlikely hero stepped up to the plate. Addison Russel, who by all accounts has struggled since his recent call up. Homered the first in his career to left field to tie the game.

"Addison has been hitting the ball hard and its only a matter of time until some of those rockets he is hitting stop finding gloves all the time. He is a .250 hitter at worst if he lowers the strike outs and gets luck to go on his side a little bit more."

Later in the inning, Starlin Castro would hit a triple down the line with two outs and Anthony Rizzo would drive him in with a base hit of his own, and the Cubs would take the lead 4-3 after being down 3-2 just three outs before.

Hector Rondon would come in in the 9th inning to shut down the Mets, as he has all season. The problem is that Rondon would finally blow a save, with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, he would allow a base hit to Wilmer Flores that would drive in pinch runner Kirk Nieuwhenhius.

"No big deal right, we have won our fair share of extra innings games, one more out and we will keep rolling."

Rondon would get his ground ball to get out of the inning, however the goat of the game would be Starlin Castro, as he has many times before, as he would boot the ball allowing the runner to reach base. Things then spiraled from there as the Mets would push another 4 runners to the plate to take an unprecedented 8-4 lead.

The Cubs would go away quietly in the bottom of the inning.

"As we said after the last game, we have a good record but we have some worrying issues, this will be the 2nd injury for Jorge Soler already in this season. We struck out 11 times, two in the 9th inning, and we had not one but two errors that allowed 5 unearned runs."

New York Mets at Chicago Cubs
May 12, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (17-21)	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	5	8	9	0
Chicago (20-13)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	4	7	2
W: Gilmartin (2-3) L: Rondon (0-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			NYM	CHC
NYM	1	Cuddyer homers to left	1	0
CHC	2	Soler homers to left, Bryant scores	1	2
NYM	3	Daniel Murphy fly ball to left, Error by Soler (Injured on Play) Murphy to 3rd, Recker scores	2	2
NYM	3	Wright grounds out to short, Murphy scores	3	2
CHC	8	Russell homers to left	3	3
CHC	8	Rizzo singles, Castro scores	3	4
NYM	9	Flores singles, Nieuwenhaus scores	4	4
NYM	9	Tejada doubles, Lagares and Flores scores	6	4
NYM	9	D'Arnaud homers, Tejada scores	8	4

New York Mets
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Fowler	4	0	2	0	0	1		.338
Castro	3	1	1	0	1	0		.357
Rizzo	4	0	1	1	0	2		.309
Bryant	2	1	0	0	2	1		.294
Soler	1	1	1	2	0	0		.266
Szczur (For Soler after Injury)	3	0	0	0	0	2		.307
Coghlan	4	0	1	0	0	1		.265
Ross	4	0	0	0	0	3		.290
Hammel	2	0	0	0	0	0		.090
Castillo (In 7th for Hammel)	1	0	0	0	0	0		.214
Herrera (In 9th for Strop)	1	0	0	0	0	0		.254
Russell	4	1	1	1	0	1		.135
BATTING: 2B: Coghlan (9) 3B: Castro (1) HR: Soler (4), Russell (1) RBI: Rizzo (20), Soler 2 (15), Russell (4) GIDP: Castro
FIELDING: E: Castro (2), Soler (5)

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Murphy	5	1	0	0	0	1		.263
Wright	4	0	1	1	0	1		.258
Cuddyer	4	1	2	1	0	1		.294
Duda	3	0	1	0	1	0		.223
Nieuwenhuis (Ran for Duda in 9th)	0	1	0	0	0	0		.266
Granderson	4	0	1	0	0	0		.237
Flores	4	1	1	1	0	1		.228
Lagares	4	1	0	0	0	1		.245
Recker	3	1	1	0	0	1		.190
Tejada (In 9th for Recker)	1	1	1	2	0	0		.241
Niese	1	0	0	0	0	0		.166
Campbell (In 8th for Niese)	1	0	0	0	0	0		.361
D'Arnaud (In 9th for Gilmartin)	1	1	1	2	0	0		.340
BATTING: 2B: Recker (2), Tejada (1) HR: Cuddyer (6), D'Arnaud (5) RBI: Wright (13), Cuddyer (13), D'Arnaud 2 (20), Flores (8), Tejada 2 (5) SAC: Niese GIDP: Flores
BASERUNNING: SB: Nieuwenhuis (3) CS: Wright (3)

New York Mets
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Hammel	7.0	5	3	2	1	4		3.40
Grimm	1.0	0	0	0	0	1		5.06
Rondon (L, 0-1)	0.2	3	4	1	0	1		3.85
Strop	0.1	1	1	0	0	0		0.81

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Niese	7.0	4	2	2	2	9		3.47
Blevins (BS, 3)	0.0	1	1	1	0	0		5.19
Torres	0.1	2	1	1	0	0		1.55
Gilmartin (W, 2-3)	0.2	0	0	0	1	0		6.00
Torres	1.0	0	0	0	0	2		2.50

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP)-

Dillon Gee was masterful against the Cubs, Gee allowed just two hits over 7 innings. Gee also walked three but he made up for the walks with 10 strikeouts. The continuing problem that the Cubs have had recently is striking out. The Cubs again struck out in the double digit figures with 13 total. Though they did draw 5 walks, which was more than the number of hits that they had.

The Mets were able to get to the Cubs pitching staff with 7 hits against Kyle Hendricks that allowed two runs to score but the Mets also got to the Cubs bullpen by scoring three more runs against the bullpen.

In total the Mets had 12 hits as well as had two runners reach because of walks by the Cubs staff. This was game #1 without Jorge Soler who was placed on the disabled list. The Cubs recalled Junior Lake to take the place of Soler and Lake had a less than spectacular first game back in Chicago with two of the teams 13 strike outs in the game.

The two Cubs hits were from Chris Coghlan and Addison Russel, Russell might just be heating up right when the Cubs need it.

The Cubs look to rebound against the Mets in game four of the series.

New York Mets at Chicago Cubs
May 13, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (18-21)	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	5	12	0
Chicago (20-14)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
W: Gee (3-0) L: Hendricks (3-1)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			NYM	CHC
NYM	4	Wright homers	1	0
NYM	5	Flores homers	2	0
NYM	6	Gee homers	3	0
NYM	8	Mayberry Jr. Doubles, D'Arnaud scores	4	0
NYM	8	Tejada singles, Mayberry Jr scores	5	0

New York Mets
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Fowler	3	0	0	0	1	1		.330
Castro	4	0	0	0	0	4		.346
Rizzo	4	0	0	0	0	0		.300
Bryant	3	0	0	0	1	2		.284
Lake	3	0	0	0	0	2		.263
Coghlan	2	0	1	0	1	0		.269
Montero	2	0	0	0	1	1		.301
Hendricks	2	0	0	0	0	1		.142
Szczur (Double Switch)	1	0	0	0	0	1		.296
Russell	2	0	1	0	1	1		.147
BATTING: 3B: Russell (1) GIDP: Fowler
BASERUNNING: SB: Fowler (9)
FIELDING: E: Szczur (1)

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Murphy	5	0	2	0	0	2		.268
Lagares	5	0	0	0	0	0		.234
Wright	5	1	3	1	0	0		.272
Duda	4	0	0	0	1	0		.214
Granderson	4	0	1	0	0	3		.238
Flores	3	1	1	1	1	1		.231
D'Arnaud	4	1	2	0	0	0		.346
Mayberry Jr.	4	1	1	1	0	0		.212
Gee	3	1	1	1	0	1		.214
Tejada (In 8th for Gee)	1	0	1	1	0	0		.253
BATTING: 2B: Granderson (5), Mayberry Jr. (5) HR: Wright (2), Gee (1), Flores (2) RBI: Wright (14), Gee (1), Flores (9), Tejada (6), Mayberry Jr. (2)
BASERUNNING: CS: Tejada (1)

New York Mets
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Hendricks (L, 3-1)	5.0	7	2	2	2	5		3.66
Jackson	2.1	1	1	1	0	2		2.00
Coke	1.2	4	2	2	0	0		2.16

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Gee (W, 3-0)	7.0	2	0	0	3	10		2.54
Blevins	1.0	0	0	0	2	1		4.65
Familia	1.0	0	0	0	0	2		0.49

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP)-

Following a game in which they only got two hits, the Cubs once again lost to the Mets in the hit column, but the hit column does not matter at the end of the day. The Cubs beat the Mets in the thing that mattered most and that is the runs scored column.

Cubs pitcher Jon Lester got his fifth win of the season going 7 innings and striking out 9 batters along the way, though he did give up 7 hits as well. The Cubs did get better support in this game than they had in the previous affair, they still struck out in the double digits (11) but were also able to push runs across the plate.

Starlin Castro doubled to drive in Chris Coghlan early in the game and Anthony Rizzo followed by driving Castro in. Coghlan would later on follow through in the 6th inning by driving in Matt Szczur who seems to be playing well through his few games since the call up.

Junior Lake once again struggled in his return to Chicago as the replacement for the injured Jorge Soler. Lake struck out three times during the game and was one of the 11 strikeouts that the Cubs had. The Cubs were much cleaner this game and did not commit any errors.

The lone Mets run came from in the 9th inning off of Hector Rondon who was able to pick up his 10th save despite giving up three hits in the inning.

New York Mets at Chicago Cubs
May 14, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (19-21)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	10	1
Chicago (20-15)	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	7	0
W: Lester (5-0) L: Colon (1-5) S: Rondon (10)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			NYM	CHC
CHC	1	Castro doubles, Coghlan scores	0	1
CHC	1	Rizzo singles, Castro scores	0	2
CHC	6	Coghlan singles, Szcur scores, Lester to 2nd	0	3
NYM	9	Campbell doubles, Nieuwenhuis	1	3

New York Mets
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Coghlan	3	1	1	1	1	0		.271
Castro	4	1	1	1	0	1		.343
Rizzo	4	0	2	1	0	0		.306
Bryant	3	0	1	0	1	0		.285
Montero	4	0	1	0	0	2		.300
Lake	3	0	0	0	1	3		.227
Szczur	4	1	1	0	0	1		.290
Lester	2	0	0	0	1	2		.190
Herrera (In 8th for Russell)	1	0	0	0	0	0		.250
Russell	3	0	0	0	0	2		.140
BATTING: 2B: Castro (8) RBI: Coghlan (14), Castro (19), Rizzo (21) GIDP: Montero
BASERUNNING: SB: Szczur (3)

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Wright	5	0	1	0	0	2		.269
Tejada	4	0	0	0	0	1		.238
Cuddyer	4	0	1	0	0	0		.293
Granderson	4	0	0	0	0	2		.229
Flores	4	0	1	0	0	2		.232
D'Arnaud	3	0	1	0	1	0		.346
Nieuwenhuis	4	1	1	0	0	3		.265
Campbell	4	0	3	1	0	1		.400
Colon	2	0	1	0	0	0		.307
Lagares (In 7th for Torres)	1	0	0	0	0	0		.232
Murphy (In 9th for Familia)	1	0	1	0	0	0		.273
BATTING: 2B: Campbell (5), Colon (1), Cuddyer (5) RBI: Campbell (6) GIDP: Colon
FIELDING: E: Wright (1)

New York Mets
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Lester (W, 5-0)	7.0	7	0	0	1	9		2.07
Motte (H, 3)	0.2	0	0	0	0	0		8.64
Russell (H, 2)	0.1	0	0	0	0	1		0.00
Rondon (S, 10)	1.0	3	1	1	0	1		4.26

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Colon (L, 1-5)	5.1	6	3	3	3	9		3.95
Torres	0.2	1	0	0	0	1		2.41
Torres	1.0	0	0	0	1	0		1.47
Familia	1.0	0	0	0	0	1		0.46

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP)-

The Cubs look to stay hot atop the NL Central while hosting the division rival Pittsburgh Pirates in a three game series.

Things to keep an eye on, the Cubs have been struck out in the double digit figures in the past three games and an alarming number of times in the recent weeks. The Cubs are also dealing with the loss of star outfielder, Jorge Soler to a concussion and his replacement, former star prospect Junior Lake is struggling in his absence.

Game 1
Gerrit Cole (0-2, 4.86) @ Jake Arrieta (3-2, 2.98)

Cole is typically better than the record and the era that he displays and with the way the Cubs are hitting, or lack of hitting may be a better way to put it. Arrieta has also had games of extreme dominance while suffering some command issues along the way.

Game 2
Francisco Liriano (1-2, 2.23) @ Travis Wood (4-2, 2.81)

Liriano has thrown a no hitter before which is tough to discount and he has been strong all season, he typically can get many strikeouts along the way which doesn't bode well for the current Cubs situation. Wood has been dominant in his last two starts going complete games in both, but the numbers may be skewed in both situations as many balls were hard hit against him.

Game 3
AJ Burnett (4-1, 3.50) @ Jason Hammel (1-1, 3.40)

Burnett is a crafty veteran that always seems to take the Cubs to task and this season you can see that while he has allowed a decent number of runs that it appears to be in games that he already has decent command over the game because of the strong offense. Hammel is still looking to reclaim his star performance from last season, though he has been much better than he was after the trade to Oakland.

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP)-

The Cubs once again battled with a pitcher that got the better of the team. The good news for Cubs fans is that the strikeout numbers did drop to single digits, barely, with 9 strikeouts. The Cubs however only were able to get five hits against Gerrit Cole who went the distance against the Cubs in this NL Central battle.

Jake Arrieta struggled with his location all game and gave up 8 hits and four earned runs. He was only able to get four strikeouts which is exceedingly low for the way Arrieta has pitched.

Arrieta was ultimately undone by the same two players two different times where both were the sole damage that the Pirates created, Francisco Cervelli is not known for his speed but two triples later he was able to drive in Pedro Alvarez both times and the man behind him in the lineup Jo Kang was able to drive Cervelli in to score both times.

Post Game News/Notes: The Cubs optioned RF Matt Szczur to Triple A Iowa and recalled RHP Brian Schlitter

Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs
May 14, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh (17-18)	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	4	8	0
Chicago (21-15)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
W: Cole (1-2) L: Arrieta (3-3)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			PIT	CHC
PIT	4	Cervelli triples, Alvarez scores	1	0
PIT	4	Kang sacrifice fly, Cervelli scores	2	0
PIT	6	Cervelli triples, Alvarez scores	3	0
PIT	6	Kang singles, Cervelli scores	4	0

Pittsburgh Pirates
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Fowler	4	0	0	0	0	1		.320
Castro	4	0	0	0	0	2		.333
Rizzo	3	0	2	0	1	0		.313
Bryant	4	0	0	0	0	4		.273
Montero	4	0	0	0	0	0		.289
Lake	3	0	2	0	0	0		.280
Coghlan	2	0	1	0	0	0		.275
Arrieta	1	0	0	0	0	0		.066
Herrera (In 7th for Rosscup)	1	0	0	0	0	0		.245
Russell	3	0	0	0	0	2		.134
BATTING: HBP: Coghlan SAC: Arrieta GIDP: Montero
FIELDING: E: Lake (1)

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Marte	4	0	2	0	0	0		.291
Harrison	4	0	0	0	0	1		.250
McCutchen	4	0	0	0	0	2		.264
Alvarez	4	2	2	0	0	0		.275
Walker	4	0	0	0	0	0		.278
Cervelli	4	2	2	2	0	0		.240
Kang	3	0	1	2	0	0		.250
Polanco	4	0	1	0	0	1		.313
Cole	3	0	0	0	0	0		.071
BATTING: 2B: Marte (8), Alvarez (5) 3B: Cervelli 2 (2) RBI: Cervelli 2 (6), Kang 2 (12) SF: Kang GIDP: Polanco

Pittsburgh Pirates
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Arrieta (L, 3-3)	5.1	8	4	4	0	4		3.37
Rosscup	1.2	0	0	0	0	0		4.09
Coke	2.0	0	0	0	0	0		1.92

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Cole (W, 1-2)	9.0	5	0	0	1	9		3.91

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP)-

Neither starting pitcher was dominant in game two of this three game series. Both Travis Wood and Francisco Liriano were chased from the game after just five innings a piece. In those five innings, Liriano gave up three earned runs on 5 hits and 3 walks while Travis Wood gave up four earned runs on 8 hits and a walk.

The game then came down to the bullpens and unlikely candidate Wellington Castillo tied the game up in the bottom of the 7th inning to bring the Cubs back from oblivion.

The problem for the Cubs is that new apparent Cub killer Jo Kang led off the top of the 9th inning with a triple and was subsequently knocked in by Starling Marte with an RBI single.

The Cubs once again struck out ten times during the game and suffered from the lack of Travis Wood having the ability to miss bats which has been his problem all year long. Recent call up Brian Schlitter was tabbed with the loss due to giving up the Hit to Kang and was then pulled for Justin Grimm. Grimm wishes he could have the game back because he gave up three hits to three batters and allowed 2 earned runs while surrendering Kang to score as well.

Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs
May 16, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh (18-18)	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	3	7	14	0
Chicago (21-16)	0	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	4	7	0
W: Caminero (3-2) L: Schlitter (1-1) S: Melancon (10)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			PIT	CHC
CHC	2	Montero grounds into fielders choice, Bryant scores	0	1
PIT	4	Mercer homers, Polanco scores	2	1
CHC	4	Coghlan singles, out at 2nd, Rizzo scores, Bryant to 3rd	2	2
PIT	5	Harrison homers, Marte scores	4	2
CHC	5	Fowler singles, Herrera scores, Russell to 3rd	4	3
CHC	7	Castillo homers to center	4	4
PIT	9	Marte singles, Kang scores	5	4
PIT	9	McCutchen triples, Marte and Harrison scores	7	4

Pittsburgh Pirates
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Marte	5	2	2	1	0	0		.294
Harrison	5	2	2	2	0	2		.255
McCutchen	5	0	1	2	0	0		.262
Alvarez	5	0	0	0	0	1		.263
Walker	4	0	3	0	0	1		.291
Rodriguez (In 9th for Hart)	1	0	0	0	0	0		.066
Polanco	3	1	0	0	1	1		.305
Mercer	4	1	2	2	0	0		.196
Sanchez	4	0	1	0	0	1		.354
Liriano	2	0	1	0	0	1		.357
Cervelli (In 6th for Liriano)	1	0	1	0	0	0		.247
Kang (In 9th for Caminero)	1	1	1	0	0	0		.256
BATTING: 3B: McCutchen (2), Kang (1) HR: Harrison (1), Mercer (2) RBI: Marte (17), Harrison 2 (16), McCutchen 2 (19), Mercer 2 (5) GIDP: Polanco
BASERUNNING: SB: Marte 2 (9)

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Fowler	4	0	1	1	0	2		.318
Castro	4	0	0	0	0	3		.323
Rizzo	4	1	1	0	0	1		.311
Bryant	3	1	1	0	1	1		.275
Lake	4	0	2	0	0	1		.310
Coghlan	4	0	1	1	0	1		.274
Montero	4	0	0	1	0	1		.279
Wood	1	0	0	0	0	0		.177
Herrera (In 5th for Wood)	0	1	0	0	1	0		.245
Castillo (In 7th for Rosscup)	1	1	1	1	0	0		.241
Ross (In 9th for Russell)	0	0	0	0	1	0		.290
Russell	3	0	0	0	1	0		.128
BATTING: HR: Castillo (1) RBI: Fowler (18), Montero (10), Coghlan (15), Castillo (3)
BASERUNNING: SB: Fowler (10)

Pittsburgh Pirates
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Liriano	5.0	5	3	3	3	4		2.58
Bastardo (BS, 2)	1.0	2	1	1	0	0		3.78
Caminero (W, 3-2)	2.0	0	0	0	0	4		4.98
Melancon (S, 10)	1.0	0	0	0	1	2		0.93

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wood	5.0	8	4	4	1	4		3.22
Jackson	1.2	1	0	0	0	2		1.83
Rosscup	0.1	0	0	0	0	1		3.97
Coke	0.2	1	0	0	0	0		1.86
Schlitter (L, 1-1)	0.2	1	1	1	0	0		1.68
Grimm	0.0	3	2	2	0	0		8.43
Russell	0.2	0	0	0	0	0		0.00

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP)-

Following their loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Cubs announced that they had officially made a trade with the Seattle Mariners. The player that tied the game and hit his first homer of the year in the game, Wellington Castillo will be sent to the Seattle Mariners.

Castillo was the odd man out with the Cubs signed both David Ross and Miguel Montero during the offseason. The Cubs decided to break camp with three catchers and Castillo has seen some time at third base so far this season in a couple of spot starts to give Kris Bryant a day or two off this season. Through this point in the season, Castillo was 7/29 with 1 home run and three RBI's.

In exchange for Castillo the Cubs got a 26 year old fireballer who has struggled with his command. Yoervis Medina will be coming to the Cubs.

Medina on the season has pitched 20.2 innings in the big leagues with a 1.74ERA and has struck out 26.


Medina will report immediately to Triple A Iowa where the Cubs are hoping to work out some of the command issues that he has had over the past couple of years.

With Castillo gone and Medina reporting to triple A the Cubs had an open roster spot. That roster spot will now be occupied by RF Mike Baxter who has been hitting .317 with 4 homers in Triple A.

Other news on the roster front.

Phil Coke, the left handed reliever that impressed the Cubs staff with his pitching in spring training has struggled as of late and has been dealing with stamina issues. Coke was designated for Assignment by the Cubs which means that they have 10 days to trade or release him. This opens up another roster spot in the big leagues.

The Cubs announced that they have activated Tsuyoshi Wada from the disabled List and that he will slide into the pitching rotation. The reported change in the rotation is that Travis Wood will move into the bullpen after struggling to miss bats and to get out of tough situations.


So for those keeping track here is the official list of roster moves the Cubs made.

Coming to Chicago
Yoervis Medina RHP (From Seattle, Going to Triple A Iowa)
Mike Baxter RF (Recalled from Triple A Iowa)
Tsuyoshi Wada LHP (Activated from disabled list)

Leaving Chicago
Wellington Castillo C (Traded to Seattle)
Phil Coke LHP (Designated for Assignment)

[Getty51]

Chicago (AP)-

The Cubs got a dominate pitching performance from Jason Hammel, Hammel went 7 innings but only gave up four hits throughout the game. The problem for Hammel is the Cubs could not string together any strong hitting from anyone on the team. While the Cubs had 8 hits as a team, only one of those hits was of the extra bases variety.

The lone extra base hit the Cubs had was by Dexter Fowler and the Cubs could not get him in. The Pirates were able to benefit due to an error on David Ross in the 3rd inning that allowed Starling Marte to reach first base. Josh Harrison was able to then drive in Marte to take the lead in the game.

In the 5th inning, AJ Burnett was able to help his own cause with a sac fly that was able to score Gregory Polanco who had hit a triple earlier in the inning.

This would be yet another sweep on the Cubs season going 0-3 against the Pirates in this series after splitting a four game set with the Mets.

Post Game Roster Moves:
The Cubs optioned RHP Brian Schlitter, who had pitched in both games that he has been on the 25 man roster since his recent call up.
The Cubs also recalled RF Matt Szczur to fill in for the extra pitcher that the Cubs had on the roster.

Up next the Cubs have an off day coming up that will allow some players to get some rest for themselves.

Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs
May 17, 2015	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh (19-18)	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
Chicago (21-17)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	2
W: Burnett (5-1) L: Hammel (1-2) S: Melancon (11)

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			PIT	CHC
PIT	3	Harrison singles, Marte scores	1	0
PIT	5	Burnett Sac fly, Polanco scores	2	0

Pittsburgh Pirates
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Marte	4	1	0	0	0	1		.286
Harrison	4	0	1	1	0	0		.255
McCutchen	4	0	0	0	0	1		.255
Alvarez	4	0	1	0	0	1		.262
Walker	4	0	1	0	0	0		.290
Cervelli	2	0	0	0	2	0		.243
Kang	4	0	0	0	0	2		.247
Polanco	4	1	2	0	0	1		.312
Burnett	1	0	0	1	0	1		.100
Mercer (In 9th for Burnett)	1	0	0	0	0	0		.193
BATTING: 2B: Alvarez (5) 3B: Polanco (1) RBI: Burnett (3), Harrison (17) SF: Burnett SAC: Burnett

Chicago Cubs
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Fowler	5	0	3	0	0	0		.328
Castro	4	0	0	0	0	2		.314
Rizzo	3	0	1	0	1	1		.312
Bryant	3	0	0	0	0	2		.267
Lake	4	0	1	0	0	1		.303
Coghlan	4	0	0	0	0	1		.265
Ross	2	0	0	0	0	2		.272
Montero (In 9th for Ross)	1	0	0	0	0	1		.277
Hammel	2	0	1	0	0	1		.153
Baxter (In 7th for Hammel)	1	0	0	0	0	0		.000
Herrera (In 9th for Schlitter)	1	0	0	0	0	1		.240
Russell	4	0	2	0	0	0		.148
BATTING: 2B: Fowler (10) HBP: Bryant, Ross GIDP: Russell
BASERUNNING: SB: Fowler (11)
FIELDING: E: Coghlan (3), Ross (1)

Pittsburgh Pirates
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burnett (W, 5-1)	6.1	5	0	0	1	9		3.07
Watson (H, 4)	1.2	2	0	0	0	1		4.55
Melancon (S, 11)	1.0	1	0	0	0	2		0.84

Chicago Cubs
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Hammel (L, 1-2)	7.0	4	2	1	2	5		3.10
Rosscup	1.2	1	0	0	0	2		3.46
Schlitter	0.1	0	0	0	0	0		1.58