Cubs News: Game Recap: Tucker, Shaw homer in win over D-backs |
Dustin Riese
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- Sunday, March 30 2025
PHOENIX - On Saturday, it was a night of firsts for the Chicago Cubs (2-3) at Chase Field. You had Kyle Tucker's first career home run as a Cub, Matt Shaw's first career MLB home run, and Shota Imanaga's first of what is hopefully many quality starts this season. All that together led to a big 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks (1-2).
Along with the first mentioned above, you also had another first as Ryan Pressly secured his first career save with his new team. It didn't come easy, as Pressly allowed a two-run shot to Eugenio Suarez to begin the ninth, which gave many Cubs fans a similar feeling to what Hector Neris brought to the table last season. There is a reason why Pressly was given the nickname Ryan Stressly last season. His stressful ninth inning didn't come without agony, but it was bailed out by a heads-up play by Dansby Swanson, who secured the final out with a great play at third. As ugly as things were in the ninth, there was plenty of good to come from this game, and the start from Imanaga is the main topic of conversation. For whatever reason, Imanaga has had some command issues this season and has now walked six over his first two starts. Considering he had more starts than walks last season, this does come as a shock, but the left-handed managed to limit the walks and finished with two walks and four strikeouts across seven innings. The Cubs needed that type of performance from him, as Justin Steele and Jameson Taillon didn't look great to begin this series. Throw in that Brandon Pfaadt managed to give the Diamondbacks six strong innings of three-run, five-strikeout baseball, and once again, the runs were challenging to come by, as the Cubs needed every bit of offense they could get. As has been the case throughout the series, Arizona managed to get to the Cubs' starter early and grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second. Randal Grichuk played a role in that with a leadoff double, but so did the patience of the Diamondbacks offense as both of Imanaga's walks came in that inning to load the bases. Imanaga managed to limit the damage by getting Jake McCarthy to ground into a fielder's choice, but a run did score on the play as the Cubs trailed 1-0. That was the only run for the Diamondbacks until late, as they had no answers the rest of the way off Shota. Still holding their 1-0 lead in the fourth, Arizona saw their lead evaporate as Michael Busch started the inning with a single and then raced home on another Miguel Amaya RBI double that brought things back to even 1-1. One inning later, the bottom of the Cubs lineup set the tone as Jon Berti opened the top of the fifth with a leadoff single. Two batters later, Tucker introduced himself to the Cubs in a big way as King Tuck connected for his first home run of the season and put the Cubs ahead 3-1. After starting extremely slow throughout Spring and the early part of the season, Tucker is settling in at the plate which is huge for the Cubs offense. Kyle Tucker - Chicago Cubs (1) Now, with the lead, Imanaga started to look like the Imanaga of old as he retired the final nine hitters he faced to end his outing and the final 11, if you count the double play ball, to end the third. Although the season is only five games young for this team, you have already seen an offense that has been struggling and that has to be a concern for most fans. With Gage Workman getting the start and going hitless across two at-bats with two strikeouts, Matt Shaw entered the game in the seventh to pinch-hit for Workman. Not only did that pay off in a big way, but it was a moment Shaw won't soon forget, as he greeted the new pitcher, Jalen Beeks, with a pinch-hit solo shot for his first career home run, putting the Cubs ahead 4-1. Little did anyone know that his homer would go down as the game-winner, as there was plenty of late-game drama. What a night for the kid. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/hHuGaM90h2 First career big league home run for Matt Shaw! pic.twitter.com/KAZw6KbdQu One of the many reasons why the Cubs' pen was able to turn things around last season was the emergence of now second-year man Porter Hodge. Expected to play a huge role in 2025, Hodge allowed a pair of singles to Geraldo Perdermo and Ketel Marte to begin the eighth only to retire the next three hitters. Two of those three outs came via the punchout as Hodge showed why he has such a high ceiling. Then came the ninth-inning drama that everyone feared as Pressly was tasked with locking things down for his first save of 2025. He couldn't have asked for a worse start to his outing as Josh Naylor ripped one up the middle for a single before coming home on another Suarez homer to pull Arizona within 4-3. That was the fourth home run of the season for Suarez, as he has been on a tear to open the season. As if that wasn't bad enough, Gabriel Moreno kept the line moving with another single as the first three batters reached to begin the ninth. After retiring the next two hitters he faced, Pressly walked Marte to put the go-ahead run at first and brought Corbin Carroll to the plate. Carroll did his best to keep the game alive, as he hit one to Swanson for what ended up as an infield single, loading the bases. At least, that is what everyone thought was going to happen, as Garrett Hampson got caught being too aggressive around third and was tagged out by Swanson to end the game. Dansby for the dub 🫡 pic.twitter.com/JwlQrQg9Oz Five of the Cubs eight hits came from two players as Tucker led the way with three and Busch picking up two. Chicago will go for the series win on Sunday when they send Matthew Boyd to the mound.
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