A Tip of the Recap April 3rd

The Cubs were defeated by the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 5-1 in their second-to-last tune up before Sunday’s opening day game.

The Good

Travis Wood hit his 2nd pinch-hit HR of the spring with an absolute shot just left of center field. I would imagine it was right around 400 feet or a little bit more.

Phil Coke, Hector Rondon, Jason Motte and Zac Rosscup each had a scoreless appearance in what was a bullpen-only game.

Jorge Soler ripped a double into the left-field corner and drew a walk on a very close 3-2 pitch. Every at-bat by Soler is a demonstration of his plus plate discipline. He has such a good idea of what he wants to swing at and what he won’t swing at that I’m getting very excited to see what he will do with a full season in the bigs.

The Bad

Tommy La Stella didn’t look great defensively at 2nd base tonight. He bobbled a couple balls, one of which turned into an error that extended the inning and allowed the Diamondbacks to get their first run. On the other ball, he was at least able to record the out, but it was a rather routine play that he just didn’t field cleanly.

Starlin Castro had a throwing error that actually hit Carlos Penalver who was standing on the top step of the dugout. It was Castro’s 4th error of the spring.

The Ugly

The offense was terrible tonight and could only scrape together 6  hits while leaving 11 mean on base. When the only run was via a pinch-hit homer by a pitcher, then the offense did not have their “A” game.

On Deck

The last game of spring training is finally here as the Cubs again face off against the Diamondbacks Saturday at 3:10 PM (CST) on WGN. Travis Wood (who beat out Edwin Jackson for the final spot in the rotation) will get the start, but he is expected to only go one inning then be followed by Kyle Hendricks, who will also go just one inning.

From there, I imagine it will be a slew of young guys that finish out the day.