Listen, I know I get too optimistic at times and believe me, I was pissed off after the top of the second inning, but the Cubs might be fun this year? After Nico Hoerner’s first career walk-off hit on Monday night, the Cubs erased a seven-run deficit in two innings on Tuesday, beating the Seattle Mariners 14-9.
Yeah, this ended up being a route for the Cubs, who were down 7-0 heading into the bottom of the second inning. Young outfielder Nelson Velázquez, who was called up from Triple-A on Monday, started in right field last night and oh baby did he pick the perfect time for his first career grand slam. In one swing, Velázquez made Wrigley Field erupt.
The Cubs offense picked up starting pitcher Hayden Wesneski, who only got four outs before he was pulled. After Velázquez’s grand slam, the Cubs added another run and took a 9-7 lead into the fourth inning.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, this is the first time a team has trailed by seven runs in the second inning and then took the lead by the end of the third inning since Sept. 27, 2001. For the Cubs, they had lost their last 79 games when trailing by seven or more runs.
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And you probably remember the last time the Cubs overcame a seven-run deficit.
It was back on April 14, 2018, that ugly, rainy day at Wrigley Field against the Atlanta Braves. The Cubs were down 9-1 in the third inning and 10-2 in the sixth before that wild comeback, which ended in a similar 14-10 win.
That comeback win over the Braves was fueled by a wild Atlanta pitching staff that walked 10 batters on top of the 10 hits from the Cubs. What made Tuesday’s victory against the Mariners so awesome was that the Cubs offense flat out obliterated Seattle’s pitchers, recording 18 total hits.
Yan Gomes started the comeback with an infield hit with two outs in the second inning and then Trey Mancini hit his first home run with the Cubs to begin the team’s eight-run rally in the third.
And how about Jed Hoyer telling Boog the Cubs would give him a comeback win for his birthday and also saying there would be a few more homers following Mancini’s two-run shot.
Jed was right!
Also, how about a huge shoutout to the Cubs bullpen. These types of comeback wins simply do not happen if even one reliever has a truly bad outing following a short start.
According to Fangraphs’ win probably chart, the Cubs chances to win were below five percent in the second inning.
Michael Rucker, Adbert Alzolay, Mark Leiter Jr. and Julian Merryweather combined to pitch 7.2 innings and allowed only two runs after Wesneski was charged with seven in 1.1 innings.
Overall, the Cubs bullpen has been pretty damn good despite a few hiccups through the team’s first 10 games of the season.
One last thing, you have to see this video. Wrigley was rockin’ last night.
I know, I know, it’s early, but the vibes are great right now!
