Woo hoo, Javy Baez walk-off homer! Woo hoo, Cubs sweep! Woo hoo, this team is ridiculous and I’m just going to keep saying woo hoo for the rest of the day!
It’s almost hard to remember that there was an entire ballgame played long before Baez sent the Nationals home having been swept in four at Wrigley Field. And it was a weird one, with runners hit by batters, intentional walks to move the potential winning run over to third, strikeouts with batters reaching base, rallies started by relief pitcher hits, and, of course, many extra innings.[adinserter block=”1″]
And perhaps the weirdest thing of all was Jake Arrieta being out-pitched. The last time that happened was the last time the Cubs lost a game he started. It was last July, and it took a Cole Hamels no-hitter to do the trick.
Still, I’m not sure Arrieta was all that bad today. Sure, the command is still clearly off (for him), but he suffered from a tight, erratic zone that cost him extra pitches and extra base-runners, and it also seemed at times like Tim Federowicz was still adjusting to catching Arrieta’s stuff.
Meanwhile, the Cubs came back to tie the game in the 7th on a two-run Kris Bryant single, and nearly won it in the 11th when Bryant doubled with one out and Jason Heyward on first. Heyward was thrown out easily at the plate, leaving many wondering whether it was too aggressive to send him, especially considering that Anthony Rizzo was on deck. We’ll have to talk more about that tomorrow.
Of course, it’s entirely academic, because the bullpen was nails and Baez walked the Cubs off in the 13th![adinserter block=”2″]
This one will leave us with a ton to talk about soon enough. For now …