Cubs rally late in win over Angels |
MESA — Although it may have been just an ordinary Spring game between the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs at Sloan Park on Wednesday, it had more of a regular season feel to it. That is because
Cody Bellinger was making his Spring Debut and was immediately slotted into the No. 3 spot in the lineup.
Not only that, but Craig Counsell chose to go with virtually what this opening-day lineup could look like in an effort to see what this team was all about. That included left-handed Justin Steele making his second start of the Spring, as he was looking to build off a decent first start. Although it wasn't always pretty, and the Cubs didn't do themselves any favors early on, the offense came to the party late, including a game-winning BJ Murray JR homer in the eighth to lift the Cubs to a 6-5 victory. Facing off against fellow left-hander Reid Detmers, Steele wasn't as sharp as he would've liked, but he did admit he was trying a few new things after the game. Steele gave the Cubs three innings of work with two strikeouts, but he left on a down note after allowing three runs, two of them earned. Compare that to Detmers, who struck out six in three great innings, and the Cubs offense was struggling early, which has been a thing for a large portion of Spring thus far. Even with Detmers dominating the Cubs through three, the Cubs struck first with Christopher Morel leading off the bottom of the second with a single before taking second with his first stolen base of the Spring. Following a Dansby Swanson single that put the runners on the corners, Mike Tauchman brought home the games first run, but it was an interferrence play that allowed Morel to score as the Cubs took the 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, that lead didn't last long as the Angels started to get much better swings against Steele in the top half of the third. It all started with former Cub Jake Marisnick taking Steele deep to tie things up before a throwing error by Morel helped set the Angels up again. Kyren Paris gave the Angels the lead with his RBI single, with Mickey Moniak making things 3-1 with a sacrifice fly two batters later. Steele would finish the inning without further damage, but the Angels were now in front. Despite the Anaheim damage coming in the third, Jo Adell continued to add on as he took the Hector Neris off-speed offering and roped a laser down the left-field line to push the lead to 4-1. Now that Detmers was out of the game in favor of Kenny Rosenberg, the Cubs offense felt they had a shot at getting back into things. One-out singles by Tauchman and Yan Gomes had things set up nicely, while a Miles Mastrobuoni walk loaded the bases with two outs, only to see them come away empty-handed. You can't say that about the bottom half of the fifth when the Cubs offense finally took it upon themselves to flip the script. That all started with a leadoff blast from Seiya Suzuki, who was robbed of a homer by Marisnick in the first inning. Seiya Suzuki - Chicago Cubs (1)* pic.twitter.com/NckuekpzVq Following an 11-pitch at bat that resulted in a walk by Bellinger, Morel ripped a double to left, and the Cubs had two runners in scoring position and no outs. Two batters later, Tauchman kept his great game alive, going the other way for an RBI double, bringing things back to even at 4-4. Tauch ties us up! pic.twitter.com/ZcdF6R8PwF Tauchman would use his legs to steal third one pitch later and then came in to score on the Gomes ground out to put the Cubs back in front 5-4. With Adbert Alzolay and Neris pitching well in relief, Carl Edwards Jr came on to pitch the sixth with hopes of doing the same. Edwards got off to a great start by retiring the first two he faced, only to have Adell keep things alive with a double. Things only got worse from there as another error allowed Marisnick to reach base and brought home the tying run. That would be all the offense the Angels could muster the rest of the way, as the Cubs pen was again very good. The same can be said about the Angels and their pen, as one lousy inning does not diminish the job they did. With the score still tied and heading to the bottom half of the eighth, that was until Murray Jr. deposited Jimmy Hergert's pitch over the left-center field fence to put the Cubs on top for good, 6-5. BJ Murray Jr. breaks up the tie! pic.twitter.com/QdZ3P2CtYs A Jonathan Long hit by pitch and Jorge Alfaro single later in the inning had the Cubs on the verge of adding on, but they were unable to do that as the Cubs were just three outs away from finishing things off. Leave it to Yency Almonte to take care of that as he worked around a two-out walk in the ninth to close the door as the Cubs prevailed 6-5. Tauchman and Morel led the way offensively with two hits, while Tauchman added two RBIs and could've had three if not for the interference call. Javier Assad also deserves some recognition out of the pen as he gave the Cubs two crucial innings of scoreless relief right after the Angels tied things up. The Cubs are back in action tomorrow as they take on the Reds under the lights. "Understanding the situation... staying within myself and understanding my strengths and sticking to it on a consistent basis."@Cubs star Cody Bellinger talked to @AlexAvilaMLB about returning to Chicago and what adjustments led to a huge bounce-back year. pic.twitter.com/z8akoDZ8nG Come from behind [W]in 🙌
Murray: Tie-breaking HR
Tauchman: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, 2B
Suzuki: HR pic.twitter.com/iK4ixSJbJo
