The Cubs were back at the intrasquad thing tonight, and it was Jon Lester’s game-ish debut. The big lefty dominated the nine batters he faced (28 pitches), striking out four, walking none, and allowing just one *maybe* hit (it was apparently a Nico Hoerner tapper that Lester decided to eat).
Lester gets Schwarber looking and the crowd goes wild. pic.twitter.com/G3IPrwdnsQ
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) July 12, 2020
That was a microcosm of the game, as there were reportedly 26 strikeouts over the 6 and a half inning affair (Gonzales). Catchers must’ve been calling a might big zone ….
A 1-0 win for the Home Whites. Lone run came after runner was put on second to begin the 4th. Pitchers piled up 26 K to 48 batters faced. pic.twitter.com/YNhRM5RceR
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 13, 2020
Casey Sadler, who is among the relief candidates who looked really impressive early in the spring, walked the first two batters he faced tonight (Kris Bryant and Ian Happ) and then struck out the next three in a row (Javy Báez, Willson Contreras, Steven Souza). Then he struck out two more in a perfect second inning of work. It was already a good bet he’d make the team – he has no options left – but with 30 players to start the season, he’s almost certainly going to be one of them.
Duane Underwood, another option-less reliever, struck out five straight batters at one point. Absolutely love his fastball-changeup combo (throws a nice curveball, too).
Rowan Wick struck out three in his perfect inning of work. I mean, really, up and down it was all dominant from the pitchers tonight. Hopefully that’s a great sign for the many relievers the Cubs need to rely on quickly this year (the bats have mostly be fine this Summer Camp), and not just an artifact of a big zone called by the catchers.
Enter the simulation:
Cubs put Ian Miller on second to start the bottom of the 4th with Baez up. Our first 2020 extra-inning simulation. pic.twitter.com/q3Xlbj5GZy
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 13, 2020
Anthony Rizzo didn’t play in tonight’s game, but he did take live batting practice for the first time in about a week, facing Colin Rea. It went well, though obviously the question with anything like this is whether he wakes up tomorrow and his back still feels good.