The streak is over! The Cubs won’t go 0-fer Spring Training! All is right with the world.
Today the Cubs beat the Rockies, as the bats were alight, and the pitching was plenty adequate. Among the notable bits (again, focusing on guys fighting for roster spots or particular roles):
Alfonso Soriano batted cleanup and was the DH. Brett approves of both of these things. Unfortunately, there is no DH in the NL. Soriano responded by hitting two home runs and a double in three at bats. Are you watching, anonymous AL team?
Blake DeWitt and Adrian Cardenas split time at second today, the former getting a hit in three at bats and the latter going 0-2.
Welington Castillo – last year’s Spring darling – had two hits, including a double, in three at bats. He’s trying to step up while one of his primary competitors in the back-up catcher competition, Jason Jaramillo, is dealing with a quad injury.
Prospects Junior Lake (1-3 with a double) and Anthony Rizzo (2-3) had nice days. Neither is going to make the team, but it’s fun to dream about the future.
Brett Jackson went deep, which makes three total homers on the Spring (one only kind of fake (Spring Training game), and two pretty much fake (intrasquad games)), and he also took a walk. Kid wants on the team, but the Spring is long, and the value of keeping him at AAA for a month is extreme (would you trade one month of Jackson at AAA in April for one YEAR of extra team control in 2018?).
Casey Coleman and Chris Rusin, each of whom is likely ticketed for the Iowa rotation, pitched a couple innings apiece, Coleman giving up just two hits, and Rusin giving up a hit, two walks, and an earned run.
Andy Sonnanstine saw his first Spring action, and it interestingly came (a) at the end of the game, and (b) in just one inning of work. He gave up a walk and a hit, but no runs. I believe I recall hearing that he was working out some minor injury issues, but it will be interesting to see if he gets a chance to pitch multiple innings at the beginning of games later this Spring (thus indicating that he’s legitimately in the rotation competition).
Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here.
Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.
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