Hoerner walks-off Mariners after Smyly's stellar start |
CHICAGO - When the 2023 MLB schedule came out, and you looked at the Chicago Cubs (5-4) first 70 games, you immediately noticed how challenging it would be. They always say you can't win a division in April, but you certainly can lose one, and the schedule the Cubs are faced with early on could determine the fate of the rest of their season.
Although this has been a small sample size thus far, the Cubs have played reasonably well and are sitting at 5-4, including 4-3 at Wrigley Field, where they took on the Seattle Mariners (4-7) on Monday. Unlike the Cubs, the Mariners have gotten off to a slow start, but not having Robbie Ray healthy at the moment could be the biggest reason why. Seattle still has Luis Castillo, and he was on the bump Monday against left-hander Drew Smyly. Coming off a terrible first start of the season, Smyly bounced back and was quite dominant on the hill as he retired the first 10 batters he faced before striking out the side in the fifth. All in all, he gave the Cubs five strong innings of one-run, two-hit ball and struck out seven before leaving with a 2-1 lead. The Cubs held that lead until the final inning when Michael Fulmer served up a solo shot to Jarred Kelnec that tied things up in the ninth inning and sent the game into extras. That is when Nico Hoerner picked a great time to deliver his first career walk-off hit as his soft line to right field got the job done and gave the Cubs a 3-2 walk-off win. As mentioned, Smyly was brilliant, and his curveball was a big reason why, as he set down the first 10 batters he faced. The problem was Castillo was equally as good, allowing just a pair of singles to Eric Hosmer and Nico Hoerner over the first three innings. Seeing Hosmer have a hit against Castillo shouldn't come as a surprise, as he is now 12-18 against him for his career. This is one pitcher Hosmer wishes he could see every day as the ball looks like a beach ball to him when he pitches. It took four innings for Seattle to finally put a runner on base, but when they did, they wanted to make sure they had the Cubs on their heels, with Ty France ripping a one-out double in the fourth to get things rolling. That double was followed by the lone walk of the game from Smyly while Teoscar Hernandez ripped a line drive to left and loaded the bases with one out. What could have been a massive inning for Seattle turned into minimal damage as Smyly allowed a sacrifice fly to AJ Pollack before pitching out of trouble, but the Cubs still trailed 1-0. That deficit didn't last long, and credit the middle of the order for that. Ian Happ came up huge with a 10-pitch at-bat, resulting in a lead-off walk. Happ then got aggressive on the bases to swipe second and advanced to third on an error. That set the stage for Cody Bellinger, who ripped one down the first base line for an RBI double to bring things back to even 1-1. Trey Mancini followed that up with a bloop single, but Bellinger had to hold up on the play as the Cubs had runners on the corners and no outs. Hoping for, at worst, a ground ball to get the run across, it was that man Hosmer again as his mastery of Castillo continued with a line drive single to left to put the Cubs in front 2-1. Chicago had a chance to plate at least one more run, only to have Yan Gomes rip a liner up the middle and get robbed for an inning-ending double play. Now with the lead, Smyly came out for the fifth and immediately took care of business as he struck out the side to finish off his outing before handing the keys over to the pen. After Adbert Alzolay worked an 11-pitch 1 1/3 innings, Mark Leiter Jr took over and made a great play to rob Kelnic of a base hit in the seventh. Seattle also chose to go with their pen in the seventh as the Cubs wasted a one-out Miles Mastrobuoni double off Justin Topa to keep things 2-1. Despite his shaky eighth inning, Brad Boxberger kept the Mariners off the board and the game to the ninth, where Fulmer took over. Of all the pitchers in the Cubs pen that have seen action this season, Fulmer has looked the best, which is why he has been the closer in the season's early stages. However, his luck ran out in the ninth, with Kelnic demolishing a fastball to right and hitting the video board to tie things up 2-2 and took a win away from Smyly. Fulmer did give up a hit to Kolton Wong after that, but managed to wiggle out of trouble to give the Cubs offense a chance. Unfortunately, they went down quietly against Paul Sewald in the ninth, and it was off to extra baseball in front of the home crowd. Knowing that few innings might be required, David Ross went with his X-factor in Keegan Thompson, who was anything but immortal in this one. Thompson walked two of the first three hitters he faced to load the bases and pitched his way into a serious jam. Then came a massive strikeout against France before Eugenio Suarez grounded out to Patrick Wisdom to end the inning with the game still tied and the Cubs coming to bat. You could argue that the play of the game came from Nick Madrigal in the 10th inning as he surprised everyone by stealing third on a play that the pitcher never even threw the ball. That was aided by a great slide at the end, but give Madrigal credit as his bold move paid off when Hoerner delivered an RBI single for his first career walk-off hit, and it was hugs all around for the Cubs and their 3-2 win. NICO WALKS IT OFF IN CHICAGO 🎉 @Cubs pic.twitter.com/JdqSoMOg5V
The Cubs continued to make their hits count as they finished with eight. Hoerner led the way with three hits and an RBI, with Hosmer adding two hits and an RBI. These teams will be back on the diamond Tuesday night when Hayden Wesneski takes the ball against Chris Flexen. On a side note, the Cubs did make a surprising roster move on Monday as the struggling Javier Assad was sent down to Iowa and replaced by Minor League player of the week Nelson Velazquez.
