NEWSLETTER
So THAT’s what that feels like on the other side. I’d almost forgotten.
The Cubs flipped the laugher script on the Pirates tonight (these teams only blow each other out), starting the blowout in the second inning with seven runs, and adding another seven before the night was up. Alfonso Rivas got to do the homer-off-of-a-position-player thing, and in grand fashion:
Rivas was joined by Rafael Ortega and Patrick Wisdom in having particularly big nights, and bizarrely Willson Contreras was the only starter not to reach base.
Keegan Thompson was fantastic tonight, which is at least somewhat a product of the opposing lineup and the score, sure. But you know what I loved? As soon as he got that 7-0 lead, he was POUNDING the strike zone. Heck, the first batter he faced in the bottom of the second hit a 2-2 middle-middle fastball out of the park. That’s how you pitch with a huge lead – make them earn it. And if you’ve got good stuff, like Thompson does, they very well may not earn it. Great start for him.
Things got pretty silly late, which had its pros and its cons. But a blowout win is a blowout win.
