Caissie powers Cubs to win over rival White Sox |
MESA - The best part of Spring Training is watching the prospects. When it comes to the Chicago Cubs, not only is their camp flooded with prospects, but prospects who will be difference makers for this team over the next few years. One of those guys is Owen Caissie, whose great Spring continued.
Coming off a three-hit game on Thursday, Caissie was at it again on Friday as he delivered two more hits. One of those hits left the yard for an opposite-field homer and proved to be the game-winner as the Cubs took care of the White Sox 10-6. Making his first start of the Spring was Justin Steele as he took the ball against Micahel Koepech. After putting together an excellent 2023 campaign, Steele picked up right where he left off and made things look easy through two innings. One pitch, one down for @J_Steele21! pic.twitter.com/odDdjxLDrF The same can be said for Koepech, who was mowing through the Cubs' lineup with five strikeouts in two innings. It was in the third inning when Steele cracked for the first time, which is to be expected this time of year. What started with a one-out Nicky Lopez single was followed by a Kevin Pillar double as the Sox had a pair in scoring position. Steele did his best to limit the damage with Paul DeJong picking up a sacrifice fly, but a costly wild pitch allowed Pillar to score as the Cubs were down 2-0. This wasn't where this team wanted to be when you look at the trend this Spring, but the Cubs are starting to learn how to play from behind. It took four innings for the Cubs' offense to get rolling, but once they got started, they were relentless. What started with a one-out Yan Gomes double in the bottom of the fourth resulted in a 2-1 game as the two-out Matt Shaw single brought home the Cubs first run. A base hit from Shaw scores Gomes! pic.twitter.com/mQevJOrS8k His single was followed by a hit by pitch and an infield single from Caissie as the Cubs had a chance to take the lead. David Bote kept the line moving with a bases-loaded walk, but the Cubs were unable to do any more damage and entered the fifth tied 2-2. In the top half of the fifth, the White Sox looked hungry as the rough Spring for Javier Assad continued. At this point, he is pitching himself out of contention for the fifth starter spot and starting to fall further down the depth chart. Although two misplayed balls by Pete Crow-Armstrong didn't help his cause, Assad was still off as his command and hard contact saw the White Sox a 4-2 lead. Chicago would add to that lead with a DeJong double, and the Peyton Burdick single as the White Sox used a four-run fifth to take a 6-2 lead. From there, it was all Chicago as a strong bullpen effort mixed with a relentless offense ended the game with eight unanswered runs to secure the win. Five runs came in the bottom of the fifth as Alexander Canario and Michael Busch started things off with a pair of walks. Following the Yan Gomes single that made things 6-3, Miles Mastrobuoni pulled the Cubs a bit closer as a sacrifice fly saw the Cubs pull within 6-4. Another walk by Shaw kept the line moving, but with two outs, it was up to Caissie to keep the inning alive. Not only did he do that, but he gave the Cubs the lead as Caissie took over the left-center field fence to put the Cubs in front for good, 7-6. Caissie has five hits and four RBIs the past two games as he has been the Cubs best hitter this Spring. .@owen_caissie goes oppo 🌮 for the lead! pic.twitter.com/AbCA9EFplg Now, with the lead, Craig Counsell was able to use his bullpen the way he liked as the quartet of Julian Merryweather, Jose Cuas, Colten Brewer, and Riley Thompson came in to finish the game. Far from perfect at times, that quartet did what they had to do as they managed to toss four scoreless frames to keep the Cubs in front. That included a scoreless seventh by Cuas after allowing a leadoff triple to Rafael Ortega. With the pitching starting to take over for the Cubs, it was up to the offense to tack on, which they did against Touki Toussaint in the sixth. Nick Madrigal started things off with a leadoff single, but the pair of walks loaded the bases with no one out. On the verge of getting out of the inning, Everhett Hazelwood got Luis Vazquez to ground into what looked to be an inning ending double play, only to have Chuckie Robinson over throw first on the play as two more runs would score to make things 9-6. The Cubs would tack on one more run on the eighth-inning single by Jordan Nwogu as they picked up their second win in as many tries this Spring against the Sox. With nine hits in the game, the Cubs have 25 hits over their past two and have been raking since their back-to-back shutouts. Chicago will be back on the diamond on Saturday when Shota Imanaga makes his first start of the Spring against the Los Angeles Dodgers. A solid [W]in to start the weekend! Cubs win!
Caissie: 2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI
Gomes: 2-for-3, 2B, 2 R, RBI
Shaw: 1-for-2, 2 R, RBI, BB pic.twitter.com/isxP9BzJ1i
Final: #Cubs 10, White Sox 6. pic.twitter.com/29UBNhzs1o
