That was just unbelievable. My head is still spinning. (To say nothing of the swirling Cole Hamels rumors.)
Down two runs in the 9th, after Ben Zobrist worked a walk, freshly-called-up youngster David Bote went down 0-2, and then he went off on a deep shot to tie the game. Then Anthony Rizzo walked it off with a monster bomb. Holy. Crap.
Obviously when you have to come back from a 6-1 deficit to win, that means some things didn’t go so well earlier in the game. I don’t want to dwell on the negative too much, but it all bears mentioning.
The Cubs have been very generous with opportunities for various pitchers to right the ship this year, which has been understandable for a variety of reasons. But, with the Trade Deadline approaching, there will soon be no excuses for continuing to afford opportunities to guys who’ve done nothing to merit them in the first four months of the season.
To that end, the Cubs were in a huge hole in this one before the bats got much of anything going thanks to Tyler Chatwood’s typical inability to throw anything near the strike zone, and then Brian Duensing’s typical inability to clean up anything dirty. I’m admittedly frustrated in the moment, but as I sit here, I don’t see how you can justify giving Chatwood another start right now, nor Duensing any kind of meaningful opportunity. They each need a serious break, at a minimum.
OK. Back to happy stuff now. What a freaking comeback. Bully to the rest of the bullpen for holding the Diamondbacks scoreless, bully to the Cubs for chipping away and being in a position to do that in the 9th, and bully for Bote and Rizzo!