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Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 92

Hector Rondon couldn't get the job done, but Justin Ruggiano provided the heroics to give the Cubs the win in the first game of the series.

Hector Rondon can be heard yelling "Thanks for saving my bacon!" to Justin Ruggiano.
Hector Rondon can be heard yelling "Thanks for saving my bacon!" to Justin Ruggiano.
David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

While Jake Arrieta's outing today won't get him on the Hero podium, it was still worthy of honorable mention, allowing only four hits and three runs over 7⅔ innings.

Graphs for Game 92 (courtesy of Fangraphs):

Game-92

Stats for Game 92:

Pitcher

IP

H

HR

ER

BB

SO

pLI

WPA

N Ramirez

0.1

0

0

0

0

1

4.11

0.104

J Arrieta

7.2

4

0

3

3

6

1.5

0.032

H Rondon

1

2

0

1

0

1

3.52

-0.208

Total

9

6

0

4

3

8

1.82

-0.072

Batter

AB

R

H

HR

RBI

BB

SO

pLI

WPA

J Ruggiano

5

0

2

0

2

0

1

1.7

0.398

C Coghlan

3

1

2

0

1

1

0

1.66

0.298

W Castillo

3

0

0

0

0

0

1

1.3

0.074

A Rizzo

4

1

1

0

0

0

1

0.77

0.070

L Valbuena

1

0

0

0

1

1

0

2.92

0.063

M Olt

1

1

0

0

0

1

0

1.54

-0.009

S Castro

4

1

1

0

0

0

2

1.14

-0.010

A Alcantara

4

0

1

0

0

1

1

1.64

-0.034

R Sweeney

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.76

-0.043

J Arrieta

1

0

0

0

1

0

1

1.83

-0.092

J Lake

4

0

0

0

0

0

2

1.2

-0.144

Total

30

5

7

0

5

4

9

1.51

0.572

Writer's Note: The daily selections of the three Heroes and three Goats are based solely on the top three and bottom three WPA scores for the game. The selections are not based on my subjective opinion.

THE THREE HEROES:

  • Superhero - Justin Ruggiano (.398). Win the game, get the dog pile treatment, take the top Hero spot.
  • Hero - Chris Coghlan (.298). Had it not been for Ruggs' heroics, Coghlan would have been one step higher.
  • Sidekick - Neil Ramirez (.104). Only faced one batter, and made it count in a major way.

THE THREE GOATS:

  • Billy Goat - Hector Rondon (-.208). Nothing cheap about the hits off of him today.
  • Goat - Junior Lake (-.144). Scuffling is an understatement; he's now 1-for-28 in his last 10 games.
  • Kid - Jake Arrieta, the hitter (-.092). The two bunts were good, but the bases-loaded whiff did him in.

UPDATED RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 92 (Changes in Bold, Notations Below):

x - Player not on 25-man roster.
y - Player not on 40-man roster.
z - Player no longer with Cubs.

Heroes

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

Starlin Castro

12.5

7.5

6.5

59

Anthony Rizzo

12

7

8

58

Luis Valbuena

9

8

3

46

Justin Ruggiano

5.5

5.5

2

29.5

Welington Castillo

6

4

3

29

z-Jason Hammel

5

4

5

28

Nate Schierholtz

3

6

3

24

z-Jeff Samardzija

6

2

2

24

Mike Olt

3

3

6

21

Travis Wood

4

4

1

21

Jake Arrieta

5

3

0

21

x-Emilio Bonifacio

1

7

1

18

Junior Lake

3

3

3

18

Brian Schlitter

1

4.5

5

17

Darwin Barney

3.5

2.5

1

16.5

Chris Coghlan

2

5

0

16

Edwin Jackson

4

0

1

13

John Baker

1

3

3

12

x-Ryan Kalish

3

0

1

10

Ryan Sweeney

0

3

3.5

9.5

Hector Rondon

0

1

7.5

9.5

James Russell

0

1

6

8

Wesley Wright

0.5

1.5

2

6.5

Justin Grimm

0

1

4

6

Pedro Strop

0

1

4

6

Carlos Villanueva

0

1

4

6

Neil Ramirez

0

0.5

4.5

5.5

Zac Rosscup

0

2

0

4

x-Dallas Beeler

1

0

0

3

Arismendy Alcantara

1

0

0

3

x-Tsuyoshi Wada

0

1

0

2

x-Blake Parker

0

0

2

2

Goats

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

Nate Schierholtz

5

10

7

42

Starlin Castro

4

6.5

12

37

Luis Valbuena

4

6.5

7.5

32.5

Junior Lake

4

6

5

29

Edwin Jackson

7

3

1

28

Anthony Rizzo

2

8

6

28

Travis Wood

6

3

2

26

Mike Olt

5

3

5

26

Justin Grimm

7

0.5

1.5

23.5

z-Jason Hammel

7

1

0

23

x-Emilio Bonifacio

1

8

4

23

Welington Castillo

2

5.5

5.5

22.5

Hector Rondon

5

1

1

18

Justin Ruggiano

2

5

2

18

Carlos Villanueva

5

0

2

17

z-Jeff Samardzija

4

1

1

15

Darwin Barney

0

6

3

15

James Russell

2

2

4

14

Ryan Sweeney

2

3

1.5

13.5

Chris Coghlan

2

2

3

13

John Baker

2

1

4

12

Pedro Strop

2

2

1

11

Brian Schlitter

2

2

0

10

Wesley Wright

2

1

2

10

z-Jose Veras

2

1

1

9

Jake Arrieta

2

0

3

9

x-Ryan Kalish

1

2

2

9

y-Eli Whiteside

1

0

3

6

x-Dallas Beeler

1

0

1

4

Neil Ramirez

1

0

0

3

x-Chris Rusin

0

1

0

2

x-Kyle Hendricks

0

1

0

2

x-Blake Parker

0

0

1

1

Overall

Hero

Goat

+/-

Anthony Rizzo

58

28

30

Starlin Castro

59

37

22

Luis Valbuena

46

32.5

13.5

Jake Arrieta

21

9

12

Justin Ruggiano

29.5

18

11.5

z-Jeff Samardzija

24

15

9

Brian Schlitter

17

10

7

Welington Castillo

29

22.5

6.5

z-Jason Hammel

28

23

5

Zac Rosscup

4

0

4

Chris Coghlan

16

13

3

Arismendy Alcantara

3

0

3

Neil Ramirez

5.5

3

2.5

x-Tsuyoshi Wada

2

0

2

Darwin Barney

16.5

15

1.5

x-Ryan Kalish

10

9

1

x-Blake Parker

2

1

1

John Baker

12

12

0

x-Dallas Beeler

3

4

-1

x-Kyle Hendricks

0

2

-2

x-Chris Rusin

0

2

-2

Wesley Wright

6.5

10

-3.5

Ryan Sweeney

9.5

13.5

-4

Travis Wood

21

26

-5

Mike Olt

21

26

-5

x-Emilio Bonifacio

18

23

-5

Pedro Strop

6

11

-5

James Russell

8

14

-6

y-Eli Whiteside

0

6

-6

Hector Rondon

9.5

18

-8.5

z-Jose Veras

0

9

-9

Junior Lake

18

29

-11

Carlos Villanueva

6

17

-11

Edwin Jackson

13

28

-15

Justin Grimm

6

23.5

-17.5

Nate Schierholtz

24

42

-18

Ruggiano picks up his fifth Superhero in his last six podium appearances, while Rondon picks up his fourth Billy Goat in his last six.