A Tip of the Recap April 1st

The Cubs won in their final Cactus League game today by a score of 11-7 over the Milwaukee Brewers to bring their record to an even .500 at 15-15-1.

The Good

Dexter Fowler was a catalyst today in the leadoff spot. He reached base all 4 times and scored 4 runs. He hit his 2nd triple and 2nd HR, also adding a single and walk and has his spring average up to .319.

Jorge Soler was 2 for 4 including his 4th HR, an absolute missile that got out in a hurry to left center. He has hit safely in 16 of his 18 games and his average is up to a robust .345. He did have two strikeouts, though one was on probably the first bad pitch he swung at all spring.

Anthony Rizzo hit a 3-run bomb out to left with a gorgeous swing that saw him just go with the pitch and muscle it out of the ballpark. It was his 2nd spring HR and even though he is hitting a paltry .185, he has hit quite a few balls hard throughout the spring.

Tommy La Stella is looking like a La Steala (see what I did there?). He went opposite field to left-center for his first spring HR and also added a single and a walk and is now hitting .375 for the spring.

Jason Hammel finished the spring on a pretty consistent run. Today, he went 5 innings and gave up 1 run on 6 hits, no walks and 5 Ks. He will finish the spring with a 3.24 ERA with a 22:3 K to BB ratio.

Hunter Cervenka came in and cleaned up a mess from Justin Grimm, allowing only one of his inherited runners to score while striking out 2.

Neil Ramirez pitched a clean inning of relief, allowing just 1 hit while striking out 1.

The Bad

Jorge De Leon and Joe Ortiz combined to give up 3 runs on 5 hits, 1 walk and 1 K. But they were not nearly as bad as Justin Grimm.

The Ugly

Justin Grimm was not quite himself today as he entered the game for Hammel in the 6th inning. He allowed all four hitters he faced to reach (3 hits, 1 walk) and was removed with 2 runners on base. In all, 3 runs were charged to him to bring his spring ERA up to 7.94.

On Deck

The Cubs are off tomorrow but will head up the road to Chase Field on Friday and Saturday to face off against the Diamondbacks for a couple exhibition games. Edwin Jackson will get the start though it does appear he is bound for the bullpen with Travis Wood getting the 5th spot in the rotation.

The game Friday is on at 8:40 PM (CST) and will be televised on MLB Network while Saturday’s game will be on at 3:10 PM (CST) on WGN.