It had been frustrating to watch Javier Baez lately as he had really been expanding the zone and was in probably the biggest slump of his career, but he broke out in a big way collecting three hits and two home runs leading the Cubs to a 9-3 victory and the 11,000th victory in franchise history.
Alec Mills rebounded after his rough outing last week to go seven strong innings giving up three runs on seven hits while walking one and striking out seven. It was really nice to see him go deep in the game and give the bullpen a bit of a rest.
The Cubs got going early off highly touted prospect Casey Mize as they put a runner on second with two outs in the second and then a hit by pitch set up back to back RBI singles by David Bote and Nico Hoerner.
After the Tigers got a run back in the third Bote would lead off the fourth inning with an absolute bomb to left. An error by the Tigers allowed Hoerner to reach base and two batters later after chasing Mize Anthony Rizzo would drive in the run with an RBI single. Baez would follow with his first home run of the game, a two-run blast to right center.
The bats would remain quiet until the ninth when Baez led off the ninth with his second home run and then after loading the bases Bote would drive in two more with a two-run single that sneaked by two Tigers infielders.
Although Bote has really struggled to start the season his line is up to .222/.300/.429 after his monster game tonight boosting his wRC+ to 96. He still needs to reduce his 30 percent strike out rate, but it's a really positive game for the infielder.
Ryan Tepera continues to look excellent out of the bullpen striking out two in his inning of work and Colin Rea shut the door with a 1-2-3 ninth improving the Cubs record to 18-10.
The series continues tomorrow as Tyler Chatwood will make his return off the injured list facing off against Spencer Turnbull in a game that starts at 6:10 PM.
No comments:
Post a Comment