Another win for the Cubs, which means they’ve already locked up this series win. That means the Padres series is the only one the Cubs have lost all year. That’s a damn good April.
Like Jason Hammel last night, Travis Wood dominated the Pirates, despite having to face them in back-to-back starts. Usually, pitchers don’t make it look this easy the second time around. Did they set up some tendencies the first time around so that they could break them this time? Was it simply better execution?
Whatever it was, it worked, and let’s hope Kyle Hendricks does it tomorrow, too.
Offensively, the Cubs continued to do what they’ve done all year: absolutely flood the bases with so many baserunners that they’re bound to score a few of ’em. And they also continued to do what they’ve done recently: so many two-out hits with runners in scoring position. Karma for the last couple years, I suspect.
Nice games for Starlin Castro, Junior Lake, Addison Russell. I could go on. Zac Rosscup and Jason Motte each pitched a nice inning in relief. Joe Maddon even won a couple challenges.
Oh, and one other surprising thing the Cubs have been doing all year …