A Tip of the Recap March 29th
The Cubs shut the Royals out by a score of 7-0 to get the win in Sunday’s Cactus League game.
The Good
Tommy La Stella had a perfect day at the plate, going 3 for 3 and scoring a run to bring his spring average up to .333.
Miguel Montero (2),Junior Lake (1), and Matt Szczur (4) each hit a HR off some pretty decent pitchers. Montero took Edison Volquez (the starter) deep, while Lake and Szczur took super ‘pen arms Wade Davis and Greg Holland out.
Stephen Bruno hit a 2-run double in his first spring AB.
Edwin Jackson was on point, going 4.2 scoreless innings while giving up just 1 hit and issuing 1 walk. He struck out 3 and needed an outing like this after the debacle of his last start.
Phil Coke, Justin Grimm, Brian Schlitter, Blake Parker and Neil Ramirez finished the final 4.1 innings, giving up only 2 hits and 0 walks, with 2 Ks combined.
Javier Baez will appear in both good and bad sections today. Good was the fact he threw out back-to-back runners at the plate to keep the Royals off the board in the 3rd inning.
The Bad
Bad Javy struck out 3 times in 4 plate appearances today to bring his spring average down to .173. Just when things start looking up at the plate, he will have a game or two like this. Thankfully though, his defense has never suffered to this point when his bat struggles.
The Ugly
The Cubs had 3 errors today, 2 in the 3rd inning that could have turned into a big inning if not for Javier’s bigger plays. Edwin Jackson and Miguel Montero each had throwing errors in the 3rd that allowed the Royals to rally. The other error was by the usually sure-handed Addison Russell.
The Cubs continue to have trouble hitting the ball, striking out 13 more times today to bring their spring total up to 255; the next closest team is the Tigers with 226. They are still in 2nd for team HR’s at 41 to the Dodgers’ 46, but the number of K’s piling up is a bit concerning.
On Deck
The Cubs take on the Giants today at 3:05 PM (CST) on a game that will be broadcast on CSN. Kyle Hendricks will get the start after taking his last 2 turns in minor league games.