It’s not quite all bad news. Kyle Hendricks looked much better in his second start of the season. Al wrote this article last month suggesting that the Cubs‘ starting pitching might be better than a lot of people have anticipated. Certainly, the Cubs don’t have pitchers with an overwhelming amount of stuff, but they do have a number of guys who excel at getting people out. That’s an important skill all unto itself.
Unfortunately, in the early season, the Cubs’ bats have been impotent. For a long time, it looked like they wouldn’t even get a hit and even then it looked like they’d only get one. Sure, the team has shown some patience and taken some walks. But by and large, the offense has little to nothing to offer unless they hit one out of the park. No team can survive on home runs alone.
And so it is that the Cubs have had pretty good starts all of the way up to this point, but they are only 3-3. I’ve said it before, but I’m only concerned because this isn’t particularly a new problem for these guys. And they didn’t particularly add anyone to address the issue. Hopefully, the Cubs will perform better than they have so far. If not, this could be an extremely long season.
With that, we’ll turn our attention to Heroes and Goats. As you’ll recall, the Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA (Win Probability Added) and are not in any way subjective. Many days WPA will not tell the story of what happened, but often it can give at least a glimpse to who rose to the occasion in a high-leverage moment or who didn’t get the job done in that moment. With that, let’s get to the results.
Game 6, April 7: Brewers 4 at Cubs 2 (3-3)
Source: FanGraphs
THREE HEROES:
- Superhero: Kyle Hendricks (.361). 6IP, 4H, 1BB, 0R, 6K
- Hero: Joc Pederson (.267). 1-4, HR, RBI, R, K
- Sidekick: Craig Kimbrel (.142). 1IP, 0H, 0BB, 0R, 1K (3 batters faced)
THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat: Brandon Workman (-.267). 1⅓IP, 2H, 0BB, 3R (2ER), K (L 0-1)
- Goat: Ian Happ (-. 231). 1-5, 2K
- Kid: Eric Sogard (-.136). 0-4, K
WPA Play of the Game: Daniel Vogelbach led off the 10th inning with an RBI single off of Brandon Workman to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead. (.309)
*Cubs Play of the Game: Joc Pederson batted with the bases empty in the 8th inning. He launched a game-tying solo homer.
Poll
Who was the Cubs Player of the Game?
This poll is closed
-
83%
Kyle Hendricks
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7%
Joc Pederson
-
6%
Craig Kimbrel
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1%
Other (please leave suggestions in the comments)
Up Next: The Cubs begin their first road trip of the season in Pittsburgh. Jake Arrieta will get the start and he’ll be looking to end the Cubs skid at two.