The Cubs have a chance to do something today that they haven’t done yet all season: win back-to-back series. Justin Steele is returning to the mound after his weird thumb knuckle issue (not quite an injury, just discomfort), and hopefully he’ll look as good as he did before his last start was cut short.
• There is nothing more disheartening than when a guy battles for 10 pitches in an at bat, and gets screwed on a brutal final strike call. Well, nothing more disheartening except when it’s all that, and the guy two batters later homers:
Pitch 10 was a called third strike, and two batters later, Yan Gomes homered. pic.twitter.com/hWYkzU9LmJ
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) May 15, 2022
Yan Gomes visits the bleachers! pic.twitter.com/mmkMRxnyo5
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) May 15, 2022
• Speaking of that Gomes dinger, it was part of a two-hit night for the back-up catcher, who has his slash line creeping back up toward something more like normal for him (.226/.255/.377, 78 wRC+ – still got a way’s to go). And, as part of the tandem with Willson Contreras, whom Gomes is helping keep much fresher this year, it’s going quite well:
The #Cubs have one of the best catching tandems in baseball.
Only the Dodgers (.826) have a higher OPS from the catching position than the Cubs (.805).
Yan Gomes and Willson Contreras sparked the Cubs to a win in Arizona. https://t.co/4OiI9jHvr4
— Andy Martínez (@amartinez_11) May 15, 2022
• That was certainly the hope when signing Gomes – that the Cubs would get even more out of Contreras offensively, and overall would have one of the best catching tandems in baseball. So far, so good.
• And one more bit of praise for Gomes:
"Which is a little rare for me,to be honest…if I'm struggling at the beginning, to be able to stick with it and really find my rhythm and find that point over the rubber and get some angle."
Same issue he battled in a couple rough April starts. Significant he adjusted in game— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) May 15, 2022
• It was really interesting to see Hendricks get settled after the third inning, because he’s right: usually, when the fastball command is not there after the first inning (sometimes he’s a bit off in the first, and then settles in), it doesn’t come around at all in the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th, if he lasts that long. Of note: Gomes also caught Hendricks’ exceptional outing earlier in the week in San Diego. We will probably continue to see that pairing.
• Just like that, Kyle Hendricks’ ERA is 4.03, which is an adjusted 99 ERA- … aka, 1% better than league average.
• After his four-batter, four-strikeout performance last night, lefty reliever Daniel Norris is up to an eye-opening 36.6% K rate (together with a passable 9.8% BB rate). Heck, he’s given up only six hits over his 10.2 innings pitched. His ERA is near six right now exclusively because of two homers and an outlier bit of sequencing (41.7% LOB), though he has given up a decent bit of hard contact. I’m keeping an eye on this overall, because the Cubs may have something cooking with yet another reclamation reliever. Norris, a former top prospect, is only 29, by the way.
• I mention the age, because it’s just weird to think about how Norris is only a year older than Scott Effross, whom we kinda sometimes think about as an emerging young player. Anyway, Effross just keeps being awesome:
Scott Effross enters in the 6th with two outs, go-ahead run on second. Three pitches, three strikes, inning over. pic.twitter.com/E1gD6lqMyC
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) May 15, 2022
• Elsewhere in the bullpen (and rotation), no meaningful update yet on closer David Robertson or starter Marcus Stroman:
Stroman and Robertson are playing catch together and feeling a little better, Ross said today, but no updates beyond that, just status quo.
No injury distinction for IL stints has meant it is COVID related. #Cubs https://t.co/Gx1uUecW0Y
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) May 14, 2022
• Rowan Wick is pretty clearly the fill-in closer with Robertson out, and so far the Cubs haven’t been any worse for the wear (in the 9th, or in those bridge innings).
They're singing, Go Cubs go! #ItsDifferentHere pic.twitter.com/qC5AJrUhCv
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) May 15, 2022
• Funny tweet? Yes. Bad real moment(s) for the sport? Yes:
The Mets between pitches vs. The Kentucky Derby from about the half mile pole. 😀 pic.twitter.com/FIczgQZhFJ
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 15, 2022
• Speaking of lengthy delays involving dead time – oof:
The umpires in Miami all forgot what the count was, so they had to get on the phone with MLB in New York and took over four minutes to figure it out pic.twitter.com/Vn4dfBIllo
— Welcome to the Ump Show (@umpjob) May 15, 2022
• Little bit of history on this date:
Six years ago today pic.twitter.com/qhnnXXZcUQ
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 15, 2022
• Old friend Taylor Davis, 32, is still catching in the minor leagues (currently in the Pirates’ system), but he talks about how eventually his path might be in a front office or a manager’s seat. Given how long he was in the Cubs’ organization and how well-regarded he was in his rise through the system, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cubs have kept a bug in his ear that they’d love to have a conversation when he’s finished with his playing days.
• Oh my. Sorry Leafs fans:
The Maple Leafs are the first team in MLB/NBA/NHL history to lose a winner-take-all game in the opening round of the playoffs 5 years in a row.
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) May 15, 2022