Madrigal's clutch hit lifts Cubs to comeback win over Marlins |
CHICAGO - With the Miami Marlins (16-18) going with a bullpen game on Saturday, the Chicago Cubs (17-16) had an excellent opportunity to steal game two and clinch a series win at Wrigley Field. Instead, you had Drew Smyly looking to build on his 1.11 ERA in his last 10 Wrigley Field starts to struggle to get through three-plus innings.
I know what you are thinking. If Smyly can't pitch into the fourth, he must have been knocked around a ton. That wasn't the case at all. Instead, the Miami Marlins deserve some of the credit as they made him work for every out. Smyly gave the Cubs 3 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out five, but with nearly 90 pitches, David Ross had no choice but to go to his pen. That move paid off in a big way as the Cubs used a trio of bullpen arms, including Keegan Thompson, who delivered three shutout innings to earn the win. From there, it was a late-game rally from some unlikely heroes, with Adbert Alzolay picking up the save as the Cubs clinched their series with the Marlins 4-2. The first inning was full of mixed reviews for Smyly, who struck out Jon Berti to start the game but then walked a pair of hitters to set the Marlins up. With his pitch count climbing to nearly 30 pitches in that first inning, Bryan De La Cruz put the Marlins in front as his single brought home Jorge Soler for the 1-0 lead. Soler played a massive role in the Marlin's early game success as he added a long solo shot off of Smyly in the third to put the Marlins in front 2-0. Thankfully, that was all the damage Smyly and company would allow, as they needed their offense to come through to pick them up. They needed it to pick up the pitching, especially when they let Matt Barnes off the hook in the first after Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ had singles in that first inning. The third inning saw a similar story, with Tucker Barnhardt leading things off with a single, followed by another Hoerner single. Looking to pull even, the Cubs came up empty as Bryan Hoeing took over midway through the inning to strike out three straight to end the threat. Eventually, you had to think all that traffic would come around to score at some point, and after Smyly and Michael Rucker pitched out of a jam in the fourth, the momentum was back with the Cubs and their offense. Cody Bellinger continued to hold that momentum as he started the bottom of the fourth with a leadoff double. Two batters later, it was Matt Mervis coming through again as his second RBI single in as many days had the Cubs on the board and trailing 2-1. Merv makin' moves! @mmervis12 pic.twitter.com/JAruvIItbR Once the Cubs bullpen took over, there wasn't much of anything going for the Marlins offensively as the Cubs were looking for that late-game opening to storm back. Don't test Ruck and Tuck! 🙅♂️@mikeruck27 | @Tucker_Barnhart pic.twitter.com/6cisO2iAjQ That appeared to be coming in the seventh when they had Huascar Brazoban on the ropes. With two down in the inning, Hoerner started a two-out rally with a walk before moving to third on the Dansby Swanson single. With Happ taking another walk to load the bases, it was up to Seiya Suzuki to cash in, but Brazoban got him on strikes to end the threat. It was in the eighth when the Cubs were threatening again and were in desperate need of a big hit. Having a leadoff error start things off certainly helped, but so did a Trey Mancini double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Following an AJ Puk strikeout of Mervis, Nicky Two Strikes, Nick Madrigal came through with his biggest hit of the season and went the other way for the game-winning RBI single. Nicky 2-runs for the lead! 👏@NickMadrigal_3 pic.twitter.com/gcWvQEVGio That was followed by an infield RBI single from Miguel Amaya to push the lead to 4-2 as the Cubs were suddenly in business. Not only did that hit give the Cubs a massive insurance run, but it was the first career hit for Amaya, with that being his second run driven in, and the Cubs took a 4-2 lead into the ninth. First major league hit for @mamaya_9! Expecting to go closer by the committee for the foreseeable future, Alzolay was given the task of locking things down and did so in order to secure his first save of the season. After a slow start offensively, the Cubs finished with 10 hits as Hoerner led the way with two. Suzuki had a rough day at the plate, striking out twice, and was the only player without a hit. The legendary @KerryWood leads the Wrigley Field faithful!#LetsGetSomeRuns pic.twitter.com/xy3izryXVn
HUGS! 🤗 pic.twitter.com/LcP1a99YCQ
