Tonight’s Cubs win was a bit less dramatic than last night’s, but it was no less fun. I suppose that’s probably true of all playoff wins, especially when they put your team up 2-0 in a five-game series.
Each of the starters Kyle Hendricks and Jeff Samardzija departed early, though each for different reasons: Samardzija, because the Cubs’ bats were immediately applying pressure, making solid contact, and scoring runs; Hendricks, because he was struck on the pitching forearm by a comebacker. (We’ll talk about that more tomorrow, but, for now, it’s being termed only a contusion, as x-rays were negative.) [adinserter block=”1″]
The bullpen picked the Cubs up from there, including Travis Wood, who not only pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, but also contributed a bomb of a homer. Incidentally, the Cubs’ other big offensive blow came off the bat of Kyle Hendricks, who popped a bases-loaded single into center field, scoring two.
For the second game in a row, the Cubs did not issue a single walk.
A very solid, relatively comfortable win for the Cubs, who are now just a win away from another chance at the NLCS.