A calming morning within the Chicago Cubs clubhouse abruptly turned somber earlier than Saturday’s recreation in opposition to the Texas Rangers.
Mallory Swanson, the spouse of Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson and a star on the U.S. girls’s nationwide crew competing on this summer season’s World Cup, suffered a left knee damage throughout an exhibition recreation in opposition to Ireland and needed to be carted off the sector and brought to a hospital.
Dansby Swanson watched the sport on TV along with his teammates and was clearly distraught on the sight of his spouse writhing in ache on the sector.
But he by some means was capable of deal with the duty at hand by first pitch, contributing a pair of hits and making a heads-up baserunning play in a 10-3 win in opposition to the Rangers.
“He loves this stuff, he loves being out here, he loves competing,” Ian Happ mentioned of Swanson. “Pretty spectacular for him at present to have the ability to do what he did. We have been all watching the sport earlier. Pretty somber (temper). For him to have the ability to do this and present that sort of emotion …
“We’re feeling for him and his family.”
Left-hander Justin Steele allowed one run over six innings for his first win, and the Cubs received their first sequence and improved to 4-3 earlier than a crowd of 33,578 at Wrigley Field.
Swanson was not obtainable to talk with the media after the sport, and his spouse’s situation was unknown. But Swanson’s teammates voiced concern for what Dansby was going by all day. Mallory, a Chicago Red Stars ahead, and Dansby married within the offseason earlier than he signed his seven-year take care of the Cubs.
Their schedules have been so busy that on the finish of spring coaching he mentioned they barely acquired to see one another. Mallory leads the U.S. crew with seven objectives and scored in six straight matches for the U.S. crew getting into Saturday.
“I couldn’t imagine,” first baseman Trey Mancini mentioned of Swanson’s emotional day. “She’s only a few months out from the World Cup and been certainly one of if not the very best participant on the (U.S.) crew this yr. Dansby talks about her ardour for soccer and her mentality, how onerous she performs. I see a whole lot of similarities from the way in which he describes her. That’s robust, proper earlier than a recreation, for her to get harm.
“But he locked it in like he always does. That says a lot about him that he was able to do that. He was definitely thinking about her the whole time.”
As for the sport, the Cubs hit a pair of residence runs in a 14-hit assault, solely the fifth and sixth within the crew’s seven video games. They entered the day tied for final within the majors in residence runs, a byproduct of the chilly climate at Wrigley and three video games in opposition to the Milwaukee Brewers starters, in accordance with supervisor David Ross.
“The guys we faced (with) Milwaukee were really good, some of the best in the game,” Ross mentioned of the opening sequence. “And I’d also say if we keep throwing shutouts we’re going to be all right.”
It could be good to dream of a world during which the Cubs may throw shutouts each recreation, however wins like Saturday should suffice.
The actual query is whether or not the Cubs can succeed within the power-dominated baseball world with out the home-run hitters most good groups have in abundance.
“We have good baseball players that are going to be gap-to-gap,” Ross mentioned. “Early on it’s nice to have the gap-to-gap, base-hit kind of guys, here especially. When it warms up, we’ll get rewarded for some of the fly balls (knocked down by the wind).”
Ross preferred the actual fact Cubs hitters have been going up the center or the alternative method, an strategy they continued Saturday. Swanson’s opposite-field RBI single within the third scored Nick Madrigal to snap a 1-1 tie after Madrigal legged out an opposite-field double.
After Patrick Wisdom’s solo residence run within the fourth, his third in 5 video games, Eric Hosmer went up the center for a two-run pinch single within the sixth to make it 5-1. Mancini added an RBI single to proper within the seventh, and the Cubs broke the sport open with a four-run eighth. Swanson scored from first on Happ’s two-run single, shocking the Rangers along with his aggressive baserunning.
“I’m excited, go into high-five nap, and then people are yelling,” Happ mentioned. “Just a heads-up play from him and good game all around.”
The Cubs ranked seventeenth with 159 residence runs in 2022 and have been hoping to enhance on that this season. But Seiya Suzuki’s indirect damage issues, and the slap-hitting Madrigal has been moved to 3rd occasionally with Wisdom enjoying proper.
It’s early, however the Cubs’ strikeout share has decreased. They struck out 23.8% of the time final season, tenth worst within the majors, however had a 20.5% strikeout price Saturday, the ninth lowest.
Wisdom has reduce down on his prolific price whereas sustaining his energy stroke. Last season he had the third-highest strikeout share (34.3%) of gamers with 450 or extra plate appearances, which was an enchancment on his league-worst 40.3% price in 375 plate appearances in 2021. Balancing his energy potential along with his lack of contact is an ongoing dilemma.
“That’s the million-dollar question, right?” Wisdom mentioned in spring coaching. “It’s ‘Do I lose my strength to address a weakness or do I come and meet somewhere in the middle and find ways to exploit my strengths but also limit that weakness?’
“It’s a constant battle. That’s just the cloud over me. But I feel like I’ve done a good job in having good stretches and eliminating those tough, those down stretches. It’s how quickly can I rebound to the person that I am.”
Now he’s one of many key hitters within the Cubs lineup, and the crew is flourishing within the early going.
“Being surrounded by great guys in this clubhouse definitely helps,” he mentioned Saturday. “They’re confident in you when you walk up there, and that’s always a good feeling.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com