The Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves opened up their second series in two weeks Tuesday night. The schedule made it difficult for the Braves to compete, as they are coming off a doubleheader, whereas the Cubs had Monday off. Nevertheless, it was a close and hotly-contested game that went to extra innings.
In Nico Hoerner’s return to the lineup, he overcame a dismal 0-4 night with an uncharacteristic three strikeouts to come through with a walk-off single and give Chicago the victory. These teams face off for the next two days and won’t play for the rest of the season unless they meet in October. Fans can only hope Wednesday and Thursday are as entertaining as last night’s 4-3 Cubs win.
Chicago Cubs Star Stumbles for First Time
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Javier Assad has had a great start to 2024 for the Chicago Cubs, surprising considering he was battling for a spot in the rotation out of spring training. His approach to the Atlanta Braves the second time around was different, and Atlanta found more success. Assad couldn’t finish five innings and allowed three runs, two of them earned, in his first real hiccup of the 2024 season.
Assad tailored his arsenal to the hitter more than usual on Tuesday night. Rather than make the batter adjust to Assad’s cadence and tendencies, he reacted and catered to the individual hitters he faced. This led to a spike in the 26-year-old’s pitch count, something that Assad had already been struggling with in earlier outings.
The Chicago Cubs bullpen took advantage of their rest day and delivered a terrific performance in relief of Assad. Tyson Miller came in to finish off the fifth inning and took care of the sixth. It was then the combination of Mark Leiter Jr., Hayden Wesneski, Hector Neris, and Luke Little that tossed scoreless frames through the tenth inning.
Long Ball Gets Atlanta Rolling
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For all of the traffic that Assad had to deal with, it was the home run that did him in. Orlando Arcia jumped on the first pitch of the night he saw and took it on a ride for a two-run home run to get the Braves on the board. Michael Harris II followed suit and on the first pitch of his second at-bat, launched a solo bomb.
Harris II’s contributions for the Braves in this one went beyond the batter’s box as he made two incredible plays in center field. Harris II dove after taking off in a full sprint to get the final out of one inning, and going back leapt backward and made a snag in deep center to keep Dansby Swanson from coming in to score.
Once Javier Assad left the game Atlanta struggled to string baserunners together and without the long ball, couldn’t put anything else up on the scoreboard.
Chicago Cubs IF Is Back With A Bounce
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Nico Hoerner made his return to the Chicago Cubs lineup and for the first nine innings, he struggled to impact the team. In that time, the Cubs used small ball to scratch across three runs. Two of the runs came in the second inning off Atlanta starter Charlie Morton who, unlike Assad, fared better in his second start in this matchup.
After the bottom of the order loaded the bases, Mike Tauchman flicked a single into right field to get the Cubs first tally. A couple batters later Swanson swiped home on a passed ball that got behind Travis d’Arnaud on a miscommunication between the Braves backstop and Charlie Morton.
It was another Atlanta mishap that set up the tying run of the game for the Cubs. A fielding error from replacement third baseman Zack Short let Michael Busch reach to start the sixth inning. After he made his way to third on a Miguel Amaya single, it was Tauchman again who drove in a run for Chicago on a single.
After Luke Little stranded the ‘Manfred Man’ in the tenth, it was the Cubs turn to try and push across a final winning run. After Christopher Morel was intentionally walked to start the frame, Ian Happ hit a weak grounder to short that allowed him to get down the line and stay out of the double play.
With runners at the corners and one out, Hoerner stepped up into the box 0-of-4 on the night with three strikeouts on his ledger, facing Aaron Bummer. On the first fastball he saw, he slapped the ball to the right side and off the ground high into the air. By the time the baseball came down, Matt Olson had no shot at getting Hoerner at first, less yet a double play or the speedy Bellinger at the plate.
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