Spring Training Miscellany: Cubs Win 2-1, Chatwood Dominates, Dingers Carry the Day

March 14, 2018, by Brett Taylor Chicago Cubs

In their second game of the split-squad day, the Cubs hosted their first night game of the season at Sloan Park, and – on a Tuesday night – it was a record-setting affair.

The bar has been raised for the @Cubs #SpringTraining record books. 15,849 strong tonight! Thank you to everyone who came out to the ballpark ⚾️

— Sloan Park Mesa (@SloanParkMesa) March 14, 2018

That’s a Cubs record and a Cactus League record and a really good Friday night for the Rays.

Meanwhile …

The Cubs won that nightcap 2-1 over the Giants on the strength of solo homers by Ian Happ and Addison Russell. For Happ, it was his fifth homer on the spring, just one behind the league leader, Jason Kipnis, and already matched his homer-binge total from last spring. Interestingly, that five spot did not lead the Cubs last spring – instead, that honor went to Russell and Willson Contreras, each of whom had six, and each of whom also homered yesterday. (Contreras’s monster shot was in the earlier game.)
Tyler Chatwood was the Cubs’ starting pitcher last night, and like the other four guys in the rotation, he seems extremely ready for the regular season to get underway:

Tyler Chatwood tonight:
5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K. pic.twitter.com/AAImogahCA

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 14, 2018

For a guy with fantastic stuff, Chatwood has never been a strikeout pitcher – his strikeout rate has never started with a two. Last night, of course, shouldn’t change your expectations on that front, but at 28 years old with great stuff, another year removed from Tommy John surgery, and joining a new organization with a great pitching infrastructure? Seeing some uptick in his strikeout rate would not at all be surprising.
(That said, the game featured 23 strikeouts overall and just two walks. It’s possible it was a particularly generous strike zone.)
Brandon Morrow, Carl Edwards Jr., and Brian Duensing all pitched scoreless innings in this one.
Victor Caratini was already not going to win the back-up catcher job without an injury to Chris Gimenez (or heaven forbid Willson Contreras), which means the Cubs can definitely play it very cautious with this:

#Cubs Caratini has sore left knee after getting hit by a pitch and collision at home.

— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) March 14, 2018

The game featured a special first pitch:

Las Vegas shooting survivor Jovanna Calzadillas threw out tonight's first pitch. #VegasStrong pic.twitter.com/UjV5AvhSKE

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 14, 2018