Smyly flirts with perfection as Cubs destroy Dodgers |
CHICAGO - There have been 23 perfect games in Major League History, but none since August 15, 2012, when Felix Hernandez accomplished that feat. In front of a packed Wrigley Field house against the Los Angeles Dodgers (10-11), the Chicago Cubs (12-7) and their fans thought that No. 24 was about to happen.
With Drew Smyly dominating the Dodgers through seven innings, the Cubs left-hander took a perfect game into the eighth inning, which hasn't been done by the Chicago Cubs since 1993. What made this even more impressive, the Cubs have never thrown a perfect game as a team, nor has one ever happened in Wrigley Field, as there was a ton of history on the line. That historical moment will have to wait as the Cub killer David Peralta ended Smyly's bid for perfection with a leadoff single to begin the eighth. However, this was no ordinary single. Instead, a little 40-foot swinging bunt saw Yan Gomes and Smyly collide, which led to the hit. Smyly bounced back to get through 7 2/3 innings as the Cubs offense pounded Julio Urias 13-0. An unforgettable performance from Drew Smyly! pic.twitter.com/KclN2rR3Oa After seeing these two lock-up last Sunday when the Cubs pulled things out 3-2, fans were expecting another close pitching match-up, but got a much different result than expected. As good as Urias has been, the Cubs have been the one team he doesn't fare too well against, as his two worst starts of his career have come at Wrigley Field. With Smyly dialed in from the very first pitch, Urias didn't have his best stuff, and the Cubs made sure to make him pay for it early. With Dansby Swanson reaching on a one-out walk in the first, Ian Happ put a great swing on a ball as his double put runners on second and third with one out. That was followed by a well-struck double from Seiya Suzuki as the Cubs took a 2-0 lead. Seiya gets the party started!@suzuki_seiya_sb pic.twitter.com/RLW3ZcNQBR Little did they know, those two runs would be all they would need as the Dodgers stood no chance against Smyly. Not only did Smyly strike out the side in the second, but he recorded six consecutive strikeouts from the first through the third inning as the Dodgers were left searching for answers. After Nick Madrigal connected for a triple in the second and then came into score on a Nico Hoerner single, the Cubs played long ball in the third with Cody Bellinger and Trey Mancini going back to back to push the lead to 5-0. This was the sixth time Urias has allowed back-to-back homers in his career; three of them have come against the Cubs. Belli and Boom Boom go back to back! 💥@TreyMancini pic.twitter.com/RakyfVaeb1 Knowing that both teams saw their starters go fewer than five innings on Thursday, they were hoping for some added length from their starters on Friday to give the pen some much-needed rest. Smyly certainly did that, but with Urias getting yanked in the bottom of the fourth for Jake Reed, the Dodgers pen could be in trouble this weekend. With a comfortable lead, the Cubs busted the game wide open in the fifth inning as they continued their assault on their opposition's bullpen. A leadoff walk from Happ was followed by a Suzuki single, and once again, the Cubs were in business. Coming off an impressive road trip where Patrick Wisdom homered in four-straight games, including all three against LA, the Cubs DH for the day picked up where he left off and took Reed deep to Waveland to push the lead to 8-0. .@PatrickWisdom5 visits Waveland!#DailyWisdom pic.twitter.com/3Y4EJ5i7Pf This was only the beginning for the Cubs in that inning, with Bellinger following that up with a double and coming home on the Mancini single, making things 9-0. Following a single from Gomes, six straight Cubs reached base in the fifth, with five coming off of hits as Andre Jackson was brought in to take over for Reed. Jackson managed to retire the first hitter he faced, but Hoerner capped off the seven-run fifth with a three-run shot to bust the game open 12-0. .@nico_hoerner drills his first home run of the season! pic.twitter.com/VIMPjs3xGf Hoerner had four hits in the ball game and is now hitting north of .370 for the season. He has proven he is more than worthy of being a leadoff hitter, and the Cubs offense is thriving because of it. The Cubs added another run in the sixth off of Mancini's third hit, but that was it offensively as they held a 13-0 lead through six. At this point, what the offense did no longer mattered as all the attention shifted toward Smyly and his quest for history. A quick 13-pitch seventh inning saw Smyly within six outs of perfection, but he was sitting at 93 pitches. Typically, that would have been the end of the road for the left-hander, but given the circumstances, David Ross was going to ride Smyly until he allowed a runner or ran into trouble. Unfortunately, the lone hit off Smyly came from Peralta to lead off the eighth, but it was not a hit you would typically think of. Smyly made the perfect pitch and executed it perfectly, only to have Peralta barely make contact for a swinging bunt. With Gomes and Smyly going after the ball, Smyly came up with it only to have Gomes run into him to prevent the throw. That was how his bid for perfection ended as Smyly got through 7 2/3, allowing one hit and striking out 10 on 103 pitches. He was removed in favor of Jeremiah Estrada, who struck out Trayce Thompson to end the eighth and then came back out to pitch the ninth. Another strikeout started the ninth, but after a pair of walks had the Dodgers threatening for the first time, it was time for Gomes to settle down the young right-hander. Whatever he said worked as Estraded bounced back to ring up his third strikeout of the game before Jason Heyward lined out to Madrigal at second to end the game as the Cubs took game two over the Dodgers 13-0. The Cubs pounded 17 hits in the win, with Hoerner leading the way with four hits and four RBIs. You also had Mancini collect three hits, with Suzuki, Bellinger, and Wisdom grabbing two. All nine players who started the game had a hit. Here are some fun tidbits from today's game and just how good Smyly was against LA this season. The 13-0 shutout was the largest shutout victory over the Dodgers since June 6, 1930, at Ebbets Field. The Cubs also won that game 13-0. For Smyly, he finishes the season 2-0 against the Dodgers and allowed one earned run in 13 1/3 inning to go with 13 strikeouts. The Cubs now have a (+48) run differential this season which is tops in the National League and only second behind the Tampa Bay Rays. Per David Ross, "Ross said he would have left Smyly in to pitch the ninth if the perfect game was still intact." That shows Ross's trust in his players and how much he cares about them. Chicago will look to take the season series against the Dodgers tomorrow as the hard-throwing Dustin May will square off against Hayden Wesneski. Wesneski is coming off his best start of the season, where he threw a career-high 90 pitches in seven strong innings.
