Operation Sports Forums - View Single Post - The Kids Are Coming: A Cubs Dynasty (The Show 15)

Jr. · 06-18-2015, 02:30 AM

Cubs Win Wild One

Bryant watches his game winning HR leave the park

CHICAGO – Kris Bryant has been everything he was expected to be at this point in his young career. Bryant was the savior today as he lifted the Cubs to a 6-5 victory with a walkoff homerun after yet another blown lead by the bullpen.

Bryant connected on a 1-1 fastball and nearly put it on to Waveland Avenue to give the Cubs their third win in the last 4 games. This came after Yoervis Medina gave up a 3 run homerun to Neil Walker that blew a 4-2 lead in the 9^th. Jason Motte was unavailable, so Maddon went to Medina to close the door. “We knew going in that Jason [Motte] wasn’t available today. We used Strop to get out of a jam in the 8^th and we were confident that Medina could get the job done. It didn’t work that way, but Kris came through and picked his teammate up. That was huge to see,” said Maddon after the game.

It looked early on that it would be a Cubs rout, but for the 3^rd consecutive game, the Cubs struggled mightily hitting with runners on base.

Chicago got out to an early lead in the 1^st as Starlin Castro (2-5, run) led off with a triple off the left-center field wall that was just out of the reach of a leaping Andrew McCutchen. Anthony Rizzo (3-4 RBI, run) followed immediately with a double into the right-center field gap to score Castro. Rizzo would come around to score on an infield hit from Chris Denorfia (3-4 RBI, run). Javier Baez (2-3 RBI) followed with a single through the left side to score Denorfia, then came around to score himself on a Jorge Soler (2-4 RBI)double off of the steel doors in left field to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead.

Chicago would continuously threaten the rest of the game, but they hit into 3 more double plays, and had some unfortunate luck hitting balls hard but right at the defense.

On the mound, Jake Arrieta looked like the Arrieta that broke out last year. Going into the 8^th inning, Arrieta had allowed two hits and one walk. He ran into some trouble in the 8^th as Francisco Cervelli (1-4, run) and Jose Tabata (1-1, run) both reached on singles, and Josh Harrison (1-3 2 RBI) followed that with a 2 run double. Arrieta (7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 6 Ks) exited and Pedro Strop stranded Harrison at second as he got Starling Marte to fly out weakly to right field.

The Cubs went down quietly in the 8^th to set up the epic finish. Medina came in and promptly walked Andrew McCutchen, then gave up a double (should’ve been a HR) to Pedro Alvarez to set up runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with 0 outs. Neil Walker came to the dish and jumped on the first pitch, a fastball, and deposited it into the shrubbery over the centerfield wall to give the Pirates a 5-4 lead. Medina got the next 3 batters out in order, 2 by strikeout.

Anthony Rizzo led off the ninth with a line drive single to right field and brought Bryant to the plate. “I was just looking for something to drive. I recognized his fastball out of hand and tried to square it up. I guess I got a lot of it,” said Bryant in the locker room. ‘I guess I got a lot of it’… understatement of the year. Bryant’s monstrous homerun was his 9^th of the season and tied him for the NL lead in RBIs (29).

The series continues tomorrow as Jason Hammel (2-3 4.26 ERA) looks to bounce back and pick up his 3^rd win of the season. He’ll square off against Francisco Liriano (2-0 5.25 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 pm CT.

MLB Notes: Clayton Kershaw earned his 100th career victory with a complete game shutout of the Colorado Rockies. At 27 years, 57 days old, Kershaw is the 2nd youngest active pitcher to reach 100 wins. Felix Hernandez (27 years, 14 days) was younger when he reached 100 wins on April 22, 2013.

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