With relievers playing the outfield and Javy Baez hitting a grand slam in the 15th inning, it was an unusual game in Cincinnati on Tuesday night. Well, except for Kris Bryant’s game-winning RBI single in the 15th. That’s pretty normal. Thanks in part to Baez’s heroics, the score looked lopsided as Chicago topped the Cincinnati Reds 7-2 in a 15-inning marathon.
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Describe the game in three words: What just happened?
Out of left field… then back into left… then out again: A lot happened before the 14th inning, but that’s when the game got really interesting. Running out of options with the game knotted at two, manager Joe Maddon started the inning with reliever Spencer Patton on the mound and Travis Wood in left field. Wood had actually entered the game in the 13th to play left in a double switch and remained out there to start the next frame.
After Patton retired Brandon Phillips, Wood trotted in from left and took over for Patton, who went out to play the field. Wood retired lefty Jay Bruce and the two pitchers switched spots once again before Patton induced a groundout from the dangerous Adam Duvall.
After the Cubs scored five in the top of the 15th, Maddon was forced to continue to tinker. He pinch-hit for Patton with starting pitcher Jason Hammel in the top half and with no position players left, so Maddon had to use his only remaining non-starting pitcher, Pedro Strop, in left field. Wood was able to get through the inning and lock down the victory, and Maddon’s wild strategic moves ended up working out.
Maddon isn’t the first manager to make that move, or even the first Cubs one. Lou Piniella utilized similar strategy in a doubleheader back in 2009 with reliever Sean Marshall. But it’s always fun when it happens.
Rough stretch for Rondon: Just two weeks ago, closer Hector Rondon hadn’t blown a save, but after failing to convert on Tuesday, he’s now two for his last five save opportunities. But it’s important to keep things in context here.
Rondon’s first blown save came in Washington when he was asked to get five outs, entering the eighth inning of a 3-2 game with a man on first. He gave up a single that put men on the corners with one out. Then he allowed a sacrifice fly to Anthony Rendon to lose the lead before striking out the next batter out to end the inning. He then worked a perfect ninth after the Cubs had taken the lead in the top half to get the win. While Rondon ultimately failed to do his job, he didn’t get lit up.
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The next blown save was the following day in a more traditional situation, but once again, Rondon wasn’t getting hit hard and actually struck out two batters in his one inning of work. But he walked a batter who came around to score the tying run. No real excuses here, just a poor, but not disastrous outing.
On Tuesday,Rondon was able to retire Joey Votto to lead off the ninth with the Cubs clinging to a 2-1 lead. Ahead 0-2 on Brandon Phillips, Rondon threw the only two-seamer he delivered all night (according to the early numbers at Brooks Baseball) and it bore in on Phillips and hit him. Rondon then gave up a single to Bruce, struck out Duvall looking, then allowed a game-tying single to Eugenio Suarez before ending the inning on a Billy Hamilton pop-up.
At the moment, Rondon appears to be going a little too four-seam heavy. According to Brooks Baseball, of his 25 pitches, 19 were four-seamers. Rondon has a devastating swing-and-miss slider, but only went to it five times. The pitch got him two outs, but no swing and misses.
Rondon wants to rely on his fastball and that should be his primary pitch, but right now he’s becoming a bit too predictable. While he still has a 34.7 percent strikeout rate, three percent walk rate and just two extra-base hits against, those numbers haven’t been good enough lately and it may be his over-reliance on the fastball that’s leading to these blown saves.
Zo forgetting June: Ben Zobrist entered Tuesday hitting .188/.316/.300 in June, but if he’s going to end the month on a hot streak, he got a good start by leading the game off with a home run. Zobrist hit a double in his next at-bat, then walked with one out in the 15th and scored the eventual game-winning run after a pair of singles from Jason Heyward and Bryant.
The Cubs would tack on four more on Baez’s first-ever grand slam. In fact, it was his first hit with the bases loaded in his major league career. He had previously been 0-for-8 with an RBI. The Baez bomb and the wackiness in left field likely led to many forgetting that Zobrist not only helped with the bat, but saved the game with his glove as well.
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In the 13th, the Reds hit back-to-back singles with one out. Votto came to the plate with men on first and second and ripped a 1-1 splitter from Joel Peralta that looked destined for right field, sure to end the game. But Zobrist leapt in the air, snagged the liner and tossed the ball to Baez at second to double off Ivan DeJesus, Jr., who was already rounding third expecting to score the game-winning run.
Lester dominant: With such a wild finish, Lester’s strong outing shouldn’t go without mention. Cubs starting pitching has started to come back to earth during their recent stretch, but Lester made sure to remind everyone that he’s pitching like the ace the Cubs paid for 18 months ago.
Lester allowed just one run – a solo homer by Hamilton in the eighth – in 7 2/3 innings of work, striking out four, walking one and allowing just three hits. Lester dropped his ERA to 2.03 and he has a 25 percent strikeout rate and 5.8 percent walk rate. He’s not only trying to match his career year from 2014, but he’s also beginning to spark a debate of who should open a playoff series come October — he or Jake Arrieta.
Of course, the Cubs have three more months to figure that out, so it’s probably wise not to get ahead of ourselves.
Up next: The Cubs send Kyle Hendricks to the mound as they go for the sweep against rookie Chris Reed and the Reds at 11:35 a.m. CT.