Photo Credit: Bleacher Report
If Monday night’s historic game by Kris Bryant wasn’t enough to keep you happy, then you tuned in yesterday with high expectations. Surprisingly, to many, expectations may have been shattered. It was a long 15-inning game. It had just about everything one could want in a baseball game. It was slow at times for those who enjoy the offense, but it had just enough to keep you interested. If you stayed up for the entire game, then you experienced probably the weirdest game so far this season.
After giving up a Ben Zobrist home run to start the game, Reds pitcher John Lamb looked solid, but would give up another run on an RBI single by Jon Lester in the 5th. Lester, who started pitching for the Cubs, looked great. He pitched 7 shutout innings and seemed at his best for most of the night. It would remain 2-0 for most of the game until the bottom of the 8th when Billy Hamilton hit a home run for the Reds. Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo leaned over the tarp into the stands to make a great catch for the final out of the inning. Then in the bottom of the 9th, Eugenio Suarez hit an RBI single and Brandon Phillips made a beautiful slide into home to beat out a throw and tie the game. So off to extra innings they went.
To say the game got any more normal would be a lie. Things got weird, and fast. In the 13th inning, Cubs manager Joe Maddon threw reliever Travis Wood into left field and Joel Peralta was called on to pitch as part of a double switch. That same inning, Joey Votto hit a line drive with Ivan DeJesus Jr. on second base as the potential winning run. Ben Zobrist of the Cubs caught the ball on the fly then threw to second base to get the Cubs out of the jam and the inning. But it would get weirder. Spencer Patton got the first out of the 14th inning for the Cubs then was sent to play the outfield while Wood came into pitch. Wood got the 2nd out, then Maddon switched them back again. Patton pitched to the last batter and got the Cubs out of the 14th inning.
In the top of the 15th inning, all the bats that were missing for most of the game seemed to come alive. The star of Monday’s game for the Cubs Kris Bryant, (hit 3 HR and 2 doubles Monday) would hit an RBI single to give the Cubs the lead. Not long after the Cubs had the bases loaded with 2 outs and Javier Baez at the plate. The count ran to 1-2 when Baez crushed one straight away center to make the game 7-2. With that, the Cubs won the game in the 15th inning and picked up their 50th win of the season. They join the Texas Rangers as the two fastest teams to win at least 50 wins this season. As for the grand slam by Baez, it was the first one hit in the 15th inning or later since 1996 and was just the third since 1930.
The Cubs seem to be doing what they do best, making history. They are one of the most fun teams to watch out of all of the major sports and as the season moves along, it will be interesting to see what other historic accomplishments they can achieve. The Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908, but with this group of player who seem to make history on a weekly basis, fans have begun to gain optimism that curses will be broken and one long historic drought will finally come to an end.
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