Cubs top Giants in wild back-and-forth game at Wrigley
Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.
On a very quiet night in Major League Baseball – there were only four games on the schedule Thursday – the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs took center stage and delivered one wild game at Wrigley Field.
Hunter Pence got the party started early, as only he can, launching a ball over the ivy in left field in the top of the first to put the Giants up 2-0. Jeff Samardzija, making his first start at Wrigley since being traded by the Cubs in 2014, was not in for a warm welcome.
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Chicago scored three runs in the bottom of the first, courtesy of RBI singles by Kris Bryant and Jason Heyward and an RBI double by Chris Coghlan to take the lead as Samardzija threw 47 pitches. Samardzija did redeem himself soon after, though he did it at the plate, bringing home the tying run with a sac fly off Cubs starter Mike Montgomery in the top of the second.
The fun was just beginning. San Francisco went back on top 4-3 in the third inning and Samardzija and Montgomery were both out of the game after the fourth.
The score would remain the same until the seventh when Cubs shortstop Addison Russell knocked in two runs with two outs in the inning to lift Chicago to a 5-4 win.
How did the Cubs acquire Russell? He came from Oakland in the trade for Samardzija. You can’t make this stuff up. September baseball is here. And if this Giants-Cubs game is any indication it’s going to be a ton of fun.
TOP PERFORMERS
Byron Buxton: He had just one hit but it was a big one. Buxton, playing in his first major-league game in nearly a month, connected for a three-run home run in the Minnesota Twins’ 8-5 win over the Chicago White Sox. The numbers in limited time with the Twins for the former No. 1 prospect in baseball have been underwhelming to date – Buxton has a career .195 average in the bigs. Maybe this will be what he needs to jumpstart his career in Minnesota with a strong September.
Freddie Freeman: The Atlanta Braves haven’t given their fans much to cheer for this season. The few instances where they’ve been brought out of their seats? Freeman has been responsible for most of them. That was again the case in a 9-6 win over the San Diego Padres, as Freeman knocked a two-run home run out of the park, his 28th of the season, as part of a 1-for-3 day at the plate with two walks and three RBIs. Freeman will likely finish the season with at least 35 homers and an OPS around .935. That’s really good. Don’t let the Braves’ woes overshadow how good their first baseman is at this game.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
The Miami Marlins are going to need more performances like this one from Christian Yelich in a 6-4 win over the New York Mets if they’re going to make a real run at being in the NL wild-card game. Yelich was everywhere, collecting four RBIs on three hits, including a homer, and adding two runs scored and two stolen bases. And that was just offensively. It’s the 24-year-old’s wonderful catch in center field, which isn’t his usual position, that saved a couple runs and earned him the nod here.
REST OF SCOREBOARD
That was all the MLB action from Thursday. Come back Friday for a full slate of 15 games, including a few with pennant race implications.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
