The Cubs are right back on their winning spring ways, beating the Brewers 3-1. The only run given up was on an Orlando Arcia single off of Shelby Miller, so I mean, you can barely even count that one. Arcia just does that to the Cubs.
Miller looked pretty good, by the way, as hoped. The new slider he developed over the past year? It’s a really good looking pitch:
Shelby Miller with two punchouts in the 1st. pic.twitter.com/YJtEwzfQSe
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) March 6, 2021
Spring Training results don’t “matter,” but I gotta tell you, the ending to this one was very cool: you had Keegan Thompson striking out Travis Shaw to end the 4th inning, and then in the 5th, 6th, and 7th, each of James Norwood, Michael Rucker, and Juan Gamez strike out three. So the final 10 outs of the game for the Cubs were all recorded by strikeout!
https://twitter.com/watchmarquee/status/1368368488948072455?s=21
I’d heard Michael Rucker worked hard on his slider in South Bend, converting it to more of a cutter (in part to better differentiate from the curve). It was that pitch that yielded the first 2 of his 3 K’s, including a great full count version under McKinney’s hands.
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) March 6, 2021
Speaking of Thompson, he looked every bit the high-floor, pitchability type you hear about (and the reason why the Cubs put him on the 40-man roster). Just looks like a big league pitcher. Maybe the ceiling isn’t much beyond a fourth starter or so, but yeah. He looks the part. Good depth to have.
Joc Pederson went deep again, Ian Happ had another good game, and Austin Romine had a couple hits.
Joc with a BLAST to left center! pic.twitter.com/kHbaQ3Nf5k
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) March 6, 2021
Meanwhile, a trio of guys showing up at camp:
Sogard told team he’s ready to start playing. Live BP today. Ross expects first game early next week. pic.twitter.com/5IW639EYhy
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) March 6, 2021
Pedro Strop throwing a bullpen session today at #Cubs camp. pic.twitter.com/7bYhAZ5U74
— Scott Changnon (@ScottyChags) March 6, 2021
Ryan Tepera getting some work in today in Mesa. #Cubs #SpringTraining pic.twitter.com/udHp4kLDDv
— Scott Changnon (@ScottyChags) March 6, 2021