JAVY! A Grand Slam for Javy Baez in the First Inning (VIDEO)

The Chicago Cubs are facing a youngster in Amir Garrett today, and one who has battled control problems so far in his rookie big league stint. In recent years, that’s precisely the type of pitcher the Cubs would frustrate, as they patiently ground him down and forced him back into the zone over the course of several innings, and multiple times through the order.

… and the Cubs did it again today, they simply didn’t wait much past the first inning. After working three walks in the frame, including a bases-loaded free pass to Addison Russell, Javy Baez got a pitch he liked up in the zone and crushed it to left for a grand slam:

Did you like catcher Tucker Barnhart’s reaction? He always has the best looks back there when he knows something bad just happened. And Javy Baez definitely did something bad to that baseball.

A closer look:

At last! It wasn’t a solo home run!

And Baez didn’t rely too much on the wind for that one, but definitely got it high enough in the air to get some assistance:

Baez’s first-inning feat hasn’t happened too often for the Cubs in the last 15 years:

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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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