Remember that time the Cubs were absolutely toast in June and then they won 49 straight games and wound up winning the Central and then the World Series and also I found a 20 dollar bill?
The Cubs won their fourth straight game tonight, beating the Red Sox on the strength of dribblers and surprisingly excellent pitching.
All props to Mark Leiter Jr. for how he performed when pressed into duty by the Alec Mills injury. He cruised through 5.1 innings of relief work, getting into trouble only in his final partial inning (a rocket double and then a blooper), but he mostly got out of it by starting his own double-play.
Mychal Givens and David Robertson wrapped things up from there, and the Cubs were no worse for the wear on losing Mills so early.
Five of the Cubs’ first six hits were infield hits, which yielded the first two runs for them. It was nuts! It wasn’t until Patrick Wisdom’s insurance knock in the 8th that the Cubs had a run-scoring hit that actually reached the outfield (and even it was a groundball!).
Nico Hoerner – two of those dribblers – fouled one off his knee late in the game, and although he stayed in, you do wonder how it’ll feel in the morning. Something to watch.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN …