Again-to-Again Dwelling Runs Spur Cubs’ Sport 1 Win

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David Banks-Imagn Photographs

Wrigley Area and its patrons are accustomed to day baseball, because the membership nonetheless honors its as soon as electricity-free historical past by enjoying Friday house video games within the afternoon slightly than at night time. And so regardless of having not hosted playoff baseball since 2020 (and a playoff win since 2017), the scene on Wild Card Tuesday, a day that noticed Chicago bathed in gorgeously clear fall mild whereas nonetheless having fun with pretty late-summer temperatures, was a well-known one, because the Cubs dispatched the visiting Padres 3-1 in a brisk Sport 1. The afternoon’s motion was headlined by back-to-back house runs by Seiya Suzuki and Carson Kelly, in addition to the proper 4 2/3 innings labored by the Chicago bullpen.

Very similar to ABC’s broadcast, each offenses struggled to make sustained noise (was anybody else’s quantity consistently fluctuating?) on this recreation. The groups mixed for simply 10 whole hits, and the Cubs didn’t have a single hit with a runner in scoring place all afternoon. Beneath the hood, it was the Padres who made extra frequent, high-quality contact, although they managed simply 4 hits. San Diego was chargeable for 14 of the sport’s 21 hard-hit (95 mph or extra off the bat) balls in play, lots of which have been struck proper at Cubs defenders.

San Diego jumped out to a slim early lead with back-to-back doubles within the second inning. Jackson Merrill squared up a pitch round his fingers, after which was pushed in when Xander Bogaerts, who simply over per week in the past was nonetheless in Arizona rehabbing from a foot fracture, crushed a piped Matthew Boyd fastball into the left-center subject hole. The Cubs erred of their haste to attempt to minimize Bogaerts down at second base, with Nico Hoerner mishandling a Pete Crow-Armstrong throw that allowed Bogaerts to advance to 3rd. Although the following three Padres hitters all put the ball in play, they did so immediately at Cubs. The primary of those appeared like their finest likelihood so as to add on, however with the infield drawn in on the grass, Dansby Swanson skillfully dealt with a hotshot grounder off the bat of Ryan O’Hearn and held Bogaerts at third:

That wasn’t the one time Swanson’s protection impacted a key second. It appeared just like the Padres have been set as much as manufacture one other run within the fourth inning after a Manny Machado stroll, a Merrill sac bunt (extra on that in a second), and a Bogaerts infield single led to a second favorable RBI alternative for O’Hearn. Boyd jammed O’Hearn with a fastball round his fingers, however he was capable of get sufficient of it to poke a tender fly ball into shallow middle subject. Off the bat it appeared prefer it had an opportunity to fall in, however Swanson gave chase and made a tricky, leaping play behind his head:

Each Swanson snags turned out to be vital, as the 2 runs prevented by every tough play (to say nothing of no matter rally may need come after) proved to be the distinction within the recreation.

The Merrill sac bunt after the Machado leadoff stroll within the fourth was curious, contemplating each the sport state (it tends to be right to play for a number of runs early within the recreation slightly than quit an out to play for only one) and that Merrill had doubled off of Boyd in his earlier at-bat. After the sport, Padres supervisor Mike Shildt responded to a query concerning the bunt, saying, “Jackson was on his personal there, seeing the sport, getting it over.”

The Padres led the league in sacrifice bunts in the course of the common season; it’s extra part of Shildt’s model than is typical within the trendy recreation, and doubtless greater than is advisable each in an analytical vacuum and for a lineup as deep as San Diego’s. It’s potential Merrill was making an attempt to reap the benefits of how deep Matt Shaw was enjoying at third base, that he was bunting for successful slightly than an specific sacrifice, but it surely didn’t work out. That stands out as the one doubtlessly detrimental determination made in an in any other case cleanly-played baseball recreation.

Padres starter Nick Pivetta ripped fastballs previous Cubs hitters all through the primary 4 innings of this recreation. He wanted simply 50 pitches to get his first 12 outs, and at one level retired 11 consecutive Cubs. A whopping 73% of his pitches have been fastballs (four-seamers and sinkers, mixed), which the Cubs couldn’t contact early on. Within the fifth, nevertheless, the Cubs have been sitting on Pivetta’s heater. Suzuki and Kelly swung at six of the seven fastballs they noticed (and ignored Pivetta’s different pitches), and torched two of them, clubbing back-to-back solo house runs to kick off the fifth inning:

That ball left Suzuki’s bat at 112 mph and traveled an estimated 424 toes. Statcast didn’t seize the exit velo of Kelly’s homer, which got here towards a 95-mph fastball at his belt. Kelly, whose mother and father are Chicago natives and who grew up a Cubs fan in Oregon, hit simply .225 and slugged .304 towards fastballs thrown 95 mph or extra this season, and had simply 4 extra-base hits towards them:

The Cubs’ lead was by no means actually threatened after that. The Padres’ all-world bullpen coughed up an eighth inning insurance coverage run on a rally sparked by a Swanson leadoff single. A bunt, a wild pitch, and a Hoerner sacrifice fly finally plated Swanson for the Cubs’ third and closing run.

Whereas they did cede some laborious contact, the Cubs bullpen had an excellent line on the finish of this one, working 4 2/3 excellent innings in reduction of Boyd, who was eliminated proactively within the fifth earlier than he had thrown 60 whole pitches. Younger fireballer Daniel Palencia labored 1 2/3 innings towards the highest of San Diego’s order, needing simply 17 pitches to retire 5 and sure leaving him obtainable for Sport 2 ought to Craig Counsell want him in one other key spot. Palencia was adopted by a clear inning every from Drew Pomeranz, Andrew Kittredge and Brad Keller. Mixed, Cubs relievers threw 41 of their 55 pitches for strikes and ended the sport shortly sufficient for the Wrigley trustworthy to discover a close by barstool and order an Outdated Model earlier than the Yankees and Crimson Sox recreation started:

Whereas 4 members of the Padres’ bullpen hydra (Adrian Morejon, Mason Miller, Jeremiah Estrada, Wandy Peralta) have been used on this one, none of them threw greater than 13 pitches, leaving your entire group comparatively recent for tomorrow’s tilt. The Cubs introduced that Kittredge will function the sport’s opener. Japanese southpaw Shota Imanaga, who final began on Thursday, can be engaged on 5 days relaxation have been he to comply with Kittredge. He was bombed in his closing common season begin and has given up a minimum of three earned runs in his final six outings. He’ll be opposed by Dylan Stop, who leads the majors in strikeouts since 2020.





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