Before the Chicago Cubs’ 8-6 win towards the Atlanta Braves on Saturday at Wrigley Field, supervisor David Ross mentioned his choice to take a seat slumping proper fielder Seiya Suzuki, considered one of President Jed Hoyer’s largest free-agent signings of the final two years.
The speaking factors weren’t shocking.
Ross wished Suzuki to work on his method, which he described as “in-between,” including the Cubs had been attempting to get him a plan to “think the right thoughts” on the plate.
“He knows he has to work on some things,” Ross mentioned. “It’s hard to do that in-game. We’ll give him some time, and he’ll be back in there when we feel like he can help us win games.”
When that may be was a query Ross couldn’t reply, however he admitted he was “fortunate” to have sufficient gamers in a groove that he might afford to take a seat considered one of his starters.
Ross has endured a lot criticism this season over his lineups and pitching strikes, however to his credit score he by no means has wavered on doing what he thought was finest for the workforce, even when it made him a human pin cushion on social media.
But does Ross have full autonomy to bench a would-be star whom Hoyer made one of many core gamers of what he hoped can be “the next great Cubs team”?
“I talk to Jed about everything,” Ross mentioned. “Jed is my boss, so I don’t know if I have autonomy over anything.”
But if Ross wished to decide Hoyer didn’t agree with, would he do it anyway?
“We talk through what’s best for the players,” Ross mentioned. “Jed doesn’t ever inform me I’ve to do one thing. He doesn’t inform me I don’t must do one thing. We speak by it and really feel like what makes essentially the most sense for us as a gaggle.
“There is no ‘You’ve got to do this,’ or ‘You’ve got to do that.’ We’re in this thing together and try to do what’s best for the group. We know Seiya is not in a place he needs to be. Jed sees that. I see that. We try to work to get him better.”
With 51 video games remaining in a season wherein the Cubs have dug themselves out of an enormous gap, each choice from right here on out will bear added scrutiny. The Cubs had been two video games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers after the win and one recreation out of the third wild-card spot.
Justin Steele faces veteran Charlie Morton on Sunday within the sequence finale earlier than the Cubs’ six-game journey to New York and Toronto.
After shedding 8-0 on Friday and searching like a workforce that wasn’t in the identical space code because the dominant Braves, the Cubs burst out to a fast lead and held on towards the league’s finest lineup.
Dansby Swanson’s two-run dwelling run towards former teammate Bryce Elder keyed a five-run first that gave spot starter Javier Assad room to breathe, and Jeimer Canderlario and Ian Happ added solo photographs because the Cubs evened the sequence.
Swanson has 5 dwelling runs on the homestand and 7 in his final 12 video games after hitting 10 in his first 99 video games as a Cub.
“Coming off the IL (on July 22), I was able to get a little bit of a fresh perspective on hitting and how I was doing,” Swanson mentioned. “I just feel like I’ve been able to hit good pitches recently. At times early in the year it felt like I was missing a lot of good pitches. This last couple weeks I feel like I’ve just hit ‘em. Sometimes it’s just a little bit of a difference in timing, and usually here in the summer the wind starts blowing out, so that helps a little bit too.”
Assad threw a season-high 83 pitches shifting into Marcus Stroman’s spot within the rotation, permitting two runs over 3 2/3 innings. The recreation’s largest second got here within the sixth when Mark Leiter Jr. struck out Austin Riley to finish the inning with the bases loaded and the Cubs up 7-4. The bullpen horses — Michael Fulmer, Leiter, Julian Merryweather and Adbert Alzolay — have been among the many keys to the Cubs’ turnaround, although Leiter credited Assad, who got here in with an 0.40 ERA in 9 reduction appearances since June 27.
“I think the world of Javy, I think he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball to be completely honest,” Leiter mentioned. “Having been a long reliever, it’s the most difficult job in the game, and he’ handled it like a machine. He’s able to do so many different things for us, so for him to be able to step in there against one of the best teams in all of baseball and give us a chance to win the game speaks volumes to the work he puts in and the preparedness he has.”
The Cubs have proven they’ve sufficient offense to roll over pitching-poor groups such because the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals, however doing it towards the Braves after being shut out Friday confirmed some resiliency. Happ insisted the sequence towards the Braves was no completely different than some other.
“You guys asked about this when we played the Rays,” Happ mentioned, exhibiting he has a superb reminiscence.
The Rays had been the perfect workforce in baseball and the Cubs had been eight video games beneath .500 once they met on the finish of May. Winning two of three from the Rays didn’t kick-start the Cubs, who didn’t recover from .500 till July 30 in St. Louis.
Winning a sequence towards the Braves may not imply something in the long term, however for Cubs followers who’ve waited patiently for a workforce to imagine in, Sunday’s recreation is as massive because it will get.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com