Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 18

Fun Fact: The last time a Cub starter pitched eight innings or more in an April game at Wrigley Field was April 12, 2012 when Matt Garza came one out short of a complete game in an 8-0 win over the Brewers.

The last complete game in April by a Cub at Wrigley, you ask? April 9, 2003, a four-hit shutout by Mark Prior in a 3-0 win over the Expos.

Graphs for Game 18 (courtesy of Fangraphs):

Stats for Game 18:

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 - Jason Hammel (.294). Eight innings, four hits, no runs. Hard to ask for much more than that. Unless you're just really, really greedy.
• Hero - Anthony Rizzo (.142). Brought his on-base percentage back up to a gaudy .494.
• Sidekick - Kris Bryant (.126). His on-base percentage is a measly .478. Slacker.

THE THREE GOATS:

A two-way bump with Jason Hammel's -.030 hitting moved out. That makes six bumps in 18 games, all from the Goats. For those keeping score at home, the pitcher hitting point totals so far: Jake Arrieta -6, Travis Wood -3, Jason Hammel -2, Jon Lester -2, Kyle Hendricks -1.

• Billy Goat - Starlin Castro (-.087). Early double plays hurt.
• Goat - Chris Coghlan (-.021). Man, I don't know what Chris did to anger the baseball gods, but... dude. Three warning-track outs and a hard-hit liner for an inning-ending double play. That's beyond jinxed.
• Kid - Addison Russell (-.007). Well, he had another hit, which is good. Unfortunately for him so did everybody else.

RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 18 ("x" indicates player not on active roster):

Rizzo and Bryant put some distance on the pack on the plus/minus chart, while Coghlan prepares to sacrifice a live chicken in order to appease the WPA deities.