2022 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game #7

Friday night’s game in Colorado lacked only one thing: A Cubs victory. In the first day off of 2022 for Seiya Suzuki, the Cubs still managed 13 hits and six walks. They turned all of those baserunners into five runs. Seiya has unquestionably been the offensive star here at the start of the season. However, Willson Contreras was back in the lineup tonight. Willson has been scalding the ball and tonight was no exception. He had a three hit night, leading the way for the Cubs.

This game had, among other things, a Superhero who didn’t even start the game. Patrick Wisdom didn’t enter the game until the fifth inning, but that didn’t stop him from recording two much-needed hits (both doubles) after a rough start to the season. Despite the barrage of hits, after Willson and Wisdom, Jonathan Villar was the only other Cub with multiple hits. He joined Wisdom with two hits. In all, nine different Cubs had hits in this game and two more players didn’t have hits but did draw walks.

On the other side of the ball, Marcus Stroman was in a pretty decent groove until the wheels just fell off for him in the fourth inning. That inning, a three-run lead turned into a two-run deficit. The bullpen was credited with four innings of work and collectively were charged with just a single run. Chris Martin was tagged for a run in his inning of work. Otherwise, the bullpen was quite effective in relief of Stroman. They did a valiant job of maintaining status quo. The Cubs did mount a comeback, but ended up one run short.

Let’s go to the numbers.

Game 7, April 15: Rockies 6, Cubs 5 (4-3)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Patrick Wisdom (.183). 2-2, 2-2B, RBI
• Hero: Scott Effross (.053). 1⅔ IP (6 batters), H, 2K
• Sidekick: Alfonso Rivas (.049). 1-2, RBI

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Marcus Stroman (-.323). 4IP (19 batters), 6H, BB, 5R, 4K (L 0-1)
• Goat: Nico Hoerner (-.295). 0-4, K, DP
• Kid: Clint Frazier (-.103). 0-1

WPA Play of the Game: With two outs in the fourth, there were runners on first and third with the Cubs nursing a one run lead. That’s when Alan Trejo faced Marcus Stroman. Trejo got the better of the matchup, slugging a three run homer. (.298)

*Cubs Play of the Game: Patrick Wisdom started the eighth inning off with a double. (.091)

Rizzo Award Cumulative Standings: (Top 3/Bottom 3)

• Seiya Suzuki +8.5
• Justin Steele/Ian Happ +5
• Nick Madrigal/Jason Heyward -4
• Patrick Wisdom -7

Up Next: Mark Leiter Jr. will make his first start as a Cub and first major league start since 2017 Saturday evening against the Rockies.