Cubs 2, Dodgers 2: Tying one on

The thing I want to know most about this game: What happened to Frank Schwindel?

The Cubs first baseman took one at-bat, in the first inning, and singled to left. He played the first two innings in the field and then, suddenly, Jared Young was batting for him in the top of the third. This is unusual for a regular in a spring game — the others in this game took three at-bats. The Dodgers broadcast crew was puzzled, wondering why a guy would go all the way to Glendale from Mesa (about a 30-mile, 35-minute ride) to take just one at-bat, and the SportsNet LA graphics folks didn’t get the memo:

So, I’m hoping nothing major is wrong with Schwindel. If there was something he tweaked, the right thing to do is to leave a spring game early. I suppose we’ll find out by tomorrow. Jared Young did make this nice play in the fourth [VIDEO].

One more note about the Dodgers broadcast — it was good to hear Rick Monday, the long-ago former Cub, whose voice is easy to listen to. He remembered many things about his five years as a Cub, even though they were nearly 50 years ago.

Meanwhile, the game at Glendale wound up in a 2-2 tie.

Alec Mills nearly got out of his two-inning stint unscathed, but with two out in the second, James Outman singled with the bases loaded to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

The Cubs got the two runs back in the sixth after most of the rest of the starting players had also departed. Clint Frazier and Pete Crow-Armstrong singled, and with one out in the inning both runners moved up on a passed ball. Chase Strumpf singled Frazier in [VIDEO].

Crow-Armstrong (and at some point I’m just gonna call him PCA here) held at second on that hit, but then took off to steal third. A bad throw went into left field and PCA scored the tying run [VIDEO].

The Cubs got good relief pitching from Scott Effross (who’s got a pretty good chance of making the Opening Day roster), Bryan Hudson, Matt Swarmer and Eric Stout, who combined for seven innings, allowing three hits and two walks, striking out seven.

The Cubs return to Sloan Park Monday afternoon to face the Reds. Keegan Thompson will start for the Cubs and Graham Ashcraft, who sounds like he should be a news presenter for the BBC in England but who in reality is one of the Reds’ better pitching prospects, will start for Cincinnati. Game time is again 3:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

If you are wondering why we have not seen Wade Miley in a game yet, here’s why:

I would imagine we’ll see Miley in a Cactus League game around Thursday or Friday.

And I’m going to wrap up this recap with this tweet from Jordan Bastian, which I think definitely captures the essence of Spring Training quite well: