The Cubs beat the Mariners 6-2 behind another excellent Zach Davies start, and this time, he wasn’t effing around. Dude struck out EIGHT batters in 4.1 innings (what?!), and allowed only a solo homer. His ERA on the spring is down to 0.68.
*on phone*
"That's Zach. Z-A-C-H.
Yeah, with 8 Ks." pic.twitter.com/drR4s8Mi3X
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 25, 2021
Less lateral movement, but more downward movement than the Kyle Hendricks changeup:
Beautiful changeup from Davies gets Kyle Seager swinging to end a 1-2-3 first inning. pic.twitter.com/LStpV8zhO6
— Cubs Insider (@realcubsinsider) March 25, 2021
We have said it before on Davies, and it has remained true for all of Spring Training: he’s just really ahead of the hitters right now, which could be solely a Spring Training thing, solely a he seriously figured some stuff out last year thing, or a combination of the two. We were already optimistic that he could be a solid starter for the Cubs this year – even if not a “replacement” for Yu Darvish – and this Spring has done nothing to dissuade that opinion. I can’t wait to see how he looks in the regular season.
Brandon Workman continues to chuck up scoreless innings, though his now five walks through seven innings are something to pay attention to. Then again, he’s got nine strikeouts, and when he broke out with the Red Sox, he was a SUPER high walk guy and a SUPER high strikeout guy. So maybe he’s … in his right zone now?
Eric Sogard has made his case to make the team, and it continued last night:
Sogard also has a stolen base and just helped secure another run with some heads-up baserunning on a Mariners error. Quite the day for a guy that could serve as another leadoff option for the Cubs this season
— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) March 25, 2021
.@EricSogard wins the 9-pitch battle! pic.twitter.com/0pid1CAZmn
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) March 25, 2021
Sogard has done nothing but hit and walk this spring, while playing all over the infield. You can, I think, discount the couple really good years he’s had in the big leagues as something of one-off flukes, but I also think you can say when he’s at his normal level, he’s just a fine bench guy to have on most teams (hence his long career). The Cubs should probably carry him out of the gate, one way or another.
Jake Marisnick with his fourth homer of the spring (and he didn’t even start on time!):
Jake Marisnick keeps hitting home runs! pic.twitter.com/LAtrs1fHh0
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) March 25, 2021
Cubs third base coach Willie Harris absolutely loves when Nico Hoerner hits triples. For the second game in a few days, Hoerner was busting it for third out of the box, and Harris was there to greet him … on the ground:
Cubs 3B coach Willie Harris at it again, dropping to the grass to let Hoerner know to slide into third.
Ross pregame, on first time he saw Harris do that: “It made me start laughing pretty good. That’s Willie in a nutshell. He’s got that energy.” pic.twitter.com/TfLxRTAxEq
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) March 25, 2021