Sixth inning helps Cubs split doubleheader against Marlins
Patrick Gorski - USA Today Sports

Sixth inning helps Cubs split doubleheader against Marlins
by - Senior Writer - Sun Apr 21 09:10:27 GMT-04:00 2024

CHICAGO - Ernie Banks once said, "Today is a great day to play two." So, Let's play two as the Chicago Cubs (13-8) and Miami Marlins (5-17) hooked up for game two of their Wrigley Field Doubleheader. Coming off a heartbreaking loss that saw Adbert Alzolay allow another homer in game one, the Cubs looked like they would be losing both games on the day as their offense was held in check through five innings.

That was until the sixth, when the Cubs pushed across four runs to take the lead and earned the doubleheader split with the 5-3 victory. Making his fourth start of the season was Shota Imanaga, as he opposed Roddery Munoz, who was making his MLB debut. Imanga was solid once again, giving the Cubs six strong innings with five strikeouts. He allowed three runs (2ER) as he moved his record to 3-0 this season with a 0.84 ERA.

Munoz was equally as good as he stifled the Cubs hitters through five innings, allowing just two runs on two hits to go with seven punchouts. Both the runs and hits, for that matter, came on solo shots, including one from Cody Bellinger in the bottom of the first to put the Cubs in front 1-0.

Given how Imanaga has looked this season, one run would typically be enough as he handled the Marlins offense through three innings without any significant issues.

Then came the fourth inning when the Marlins not only started to size up Imanga, but benefitted from an error by Nico Hoerner that allowed Josh Bell to reach. That error was followed by the Tim Anderson double, and suddenly, this was a 1-1 game. For Anderson, he is once again off to a slow start, as that was his first extra-base hit of the season. Miami kept the pressure on, with Jazz Chisholm adding an RBI single a few pitches later to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead.

What once looked like a game the Cubs could win was starting to look like more of the same, as Munoz was completely locked in after that first inning. Throw in the Bell homer in the top of the third, and the Marlins were leading 3-1, as Imanaga allowed both his first earned runs and homer of the season.

It was in the bottom of the sixth when the Cubs offense began to make some noise and it came off of Munoz and the Marlins pen. All it took for the momentum to shift was one big swing off the bat of Alexander Canario as his solo blast to left pulled the Cubs within 3-2.

That was the final hitter Munoz would face as Anthony Bender came on in relief. Hoerner greeted him with a single, which was followed by a Christopher Morel single shortly after.

Bender then did the Cubs a favor as his wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position with arguably their most clutch hitter in, Michael Busch, at the plate. Busch was out of the lineup for the first two games of this series, but picked a great time to deliver another hit as his RBI single to left put the Cubs in front for good 3-2.

Busch advanced to second on the throw, which proved extremely costly. Garrett Cooper smoked one off Tim Anderson's glove at short, resulting in another RBI single to give the Cubs a 5-3 lead.

With Jameson Taillon back in the rotation, everyone knew there would be some changes coming, and one of those changes was seeing Ben Brown go from the rotation to the bullpen.

Despite the rough first outing that saw him allow six runs, Brown has been locked in as of late and has allowed just two runs in his past four outings. That included another scoreless appearance as he gave the Cubs two innings of work, striking out three and scattering two hits. Brown was seen as someone who would help the team at some point this season, and perhaps it will be a relief role from here on out.

With Bryan Hoeing and Sixto Sanchez keeping the Cubs off the board for the next two innings to keep things close, Craig Counsell faced a difficult decision about who would close out the ninth. Given what happened to Alzolay earlier in the day, he was not an option, as the closer role could be up for grabs the rest of the way.

Leaving Brown in seemed like a logical move, but Counsell went with Hector Neris, who is also having his share of troubles to start the season. Neris wasn't as crisp as he would've liked, allowing a two-out single, but he was much better than he was at any point this season. That single was the only baserunner he allowed, as he struck out Nick Gordon to end the game and picked up his first save with the Cubs.

The Cubs had seven hits in the victory, with Busch leading the way with two hits and two RBIs.

Chicago will look to take the series tomorrow when they turn to the Professor Kyle Hendricks against the hard-throwing Edwin Cabrerra. Hendricks is looking for his first win of the season.

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