The Cubs beat the Pirates by a football score tonight, which made for a wonderfully fun evening. Unfortunately league officials inform me that the Cubs cannot retroactively spread some of those runs around the series at Wrigley Field last week, when the Pirates swept the Cubs. But hey, it’s a good start in this series.
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There were big games up and down the lineup for the Cubs, with Jason Heyward’s third homer the big early blow, and Addison Russell notching his first career four-hit game. It was a lot of fun, and rather relaxing.
Starling Marte’s replacement in the outfield, Jose Osuna, had some serious adventures out there, which was hard not to enjoy, given the nature of how the Pirates came to need his services. He did have a single, a double, and a triple in the game, though, so maybe they’re not that worse for the wear.
Brett Anderson netted the Cubs’ first quality start in a week, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was a somewhat disappointing outing. Pitching with a huge lead from the very first moment, Anderson struggled to consistently locate at the bottom of the strike zone, ultimately walking six(!) in his six innings. As Luis responded to me in a mid-game text, better to miss down than up – you’re right, Lu – but, especially considering the game circumstances, you’d just like to see anything but all the walks. To his credit, Anderson got 11 groundouts to just one fly out, so that’s a good sign for him.
Justin Grimm and Brian Duensing got in some nice low-leverage innings, so hopefully they’ll continue to turn things around.
In any case, it’s all good tonight, my friends.
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