Gomes powers Cubs past Padres |
CHICAGO - Despite the Chicago Cubs (13-9) having the best offense in the National League, you knew they would be tested when they started to face World Series Caliber opponents. The past five days at Wrigley Field have been their first real test as they went 1-3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend and kicked off a three-game set with the San Diego Padres (12-13).
Don't even bother looking at the Padres record. This is an extremely talented ball club that went to the NLCS a season ago and finally had Fernando Tatis back into the mix. Things will only get better from here, but hopefully, that doesn't happen until they leave Chicago. With another unseasonably cold night at Wrigley Field forcing fans to bundle up, the offense would be at a premium as left-handers Blake Snell and Justin Steele faced off. This is a classic case of pitchers trending in opposite directions, as Snell has been a mess since arriving in San Diego a few years ago, while Steele has been the best pitcher in baseball since last July. Don't believe me; look it up, as his 1.02 ERA can confirm that. Steele continued to pitch up to that level as he gave the Cubs 5 1/3 innings of work and allowed no runs on three hits. He walked two and struck out five for what could be his worst overall start of the season, which says a lot. Snell had a much different line, although he managed to limit the damage. Still searching for his first win, Snell got through five innings and allowed four hits. He walked five and struck out five as the Cubs had plenty of traffic on the bases. Unlike Steele, who didn't allow a run, Snell was tagged for two early runs, which would have been enough as the Cubs tossed their fifth shutout of the season 6-0. After stranding a pair of runners in the first, the Cubs kept the pressure on Snell in the second, with Trey Mancini picking up a one-out single to reach base. After watching Willson Contreras leave for the Cardinals this offseason, the Cubs knew they needed their catchers to step up to try and produce this season. No one knew that Yan Gomes would get off to the best start of his career as his two-run homer in the second gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead, and they never looked back. Yan Gomes - Chicago Cubs (5) pic.twitter.com/ravYffWJWD
Not only was that Gomes's fifth homer of the season, the most of any month for his career, but he now has four of those five homers against the NL West while also going a perfect 4-4 at the plate on Tuesday. Throw in a team record of 11-2 when he starts, and you can safely assume that the Cubs have moved on from Contreras. Given the weather conditions, runs would be hard to come by, but Steele wasn't making it easy on himself as he walked Trent Grisham and Fernando Tatis Jr in the third, only to come out of the inning unharmed. That was the only trouble Steele was in all night as he allowed one more baserunner the rest of his start before his high pitch count removed him in the sixth. After taking the lead in the second, the same part of the batting order was in the middle of the action two innings later, with Mancini leading off with a walk and advancing to second on a Gomes single. Unfortunately, Snell avoided further damage by inducing a crucial double play from Nelson Velazquez before getting Nico Hoerner to pop out to end the frame. With Snell and Steele both out of the game before the end of the sixth inning, it was now a battle of the bullpens, which has sometimes been an issue for the Cubs. Adbert Alzolay got off to a strong start by striking out the only two batters he faced, while Luis Garcia worked around another Gomes single to keep things 2-0. Despite some struggles in the seventh and eighth innings that saw the Padres threatening, Mark Leiter Jr and Keegan Thompson managed to recover as the Cubs continued to hold onto that 2-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning. Looking for some insurance runs, Patrick Wisdom worked a one-out walk against Steven Wilson, who was the beginning of a huge inning for Chicago. Another Mancini walks two batters later had the Cubs with a chance to score, but they had two outs to their name. That didn't matter to them as Gomes connected for his third single and fourth hit of the game, extending the Cubs lead to 3-0. Another walk to Velazquez continued the inning and loaded the bases for Hoerner. In danger of seeing his on-base streak stall at 19 games, Hoerner not only extended it to 20 but did so with a bases-clearing RBI triple as the Cubs opened things up with a four-run eighth 6-0. Down to their final three outs, the Padres had a pair of baserunners on base for the third straight inning, but like the previous two, Michael Rucker avoided any damage and struck out Tatis Jr to end the game and gave the Cubs a 6-0 win. The Cubs had seven hits in the game, with Gomes responsible for four of those hits. Gomes also led the way with three RBIs joining Hoerner. These teams will face off in game two on Wednesday as the Cubs will send left-hander Drew Smyly to the bump to take on Michael Wacha. The first pitch is set for 6:40 PM CDT. “I don’t care what he does at the plate, to be honest with you, because he’s so valuable in so many other areas.”
"Yan's awesome, just such a great leader in the clubhouse."@J_Steele21 on Yan Gomes. pic.twitter.com/1RI1W6QapM
W feeling 😛 pic.twitter.com/AMuUxOXZHx
"I think it's a country-boy fastball. I think it comes out different."
Cubs manager David Ross talks about what Yan Gomes brings to the team outside of a 4-hit night ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/nhxxj1tVcK
Yan Gomes on Justin Steele's heater. pic.twitter.com/eXysgPfrD3
