Imrem: Cubs' Maddon wouldn't let Nationals' Harper beat them

Cubs' slugger Kris Bryant described manager Joe Maddon on Sunday morning.

"Genius," Bryant said.

Hard to argue with that later in the afternoon, when the Cubs' 13-inning, 4-3 victory boosted their season-starting record to 24-6.

Part of Maddon's alleged genius is due to the unconventional moves he isn't afraid to make during critical times in a game.

So when Washington superstar Bryce Harper came to bat in the 10th inning with runners on first and second, the sarcastically asked question might have been, "Do you think the genius will do it?"

The "it" referred to the odd move of walking Harper intentionally to move the go-ahead run to third base.

"Sure he will," was the response.

And Maddon did.

Two innings later, Maddon ordered Harper walked again in an identical situation.

Each time the next batter, veteran Ryan Zimmeran, was retired to strand the three runners.

"It's something we go over before each series," starting pitcher Jake Arrieta said.

Arrieta was long gone before extra innings, having left after yielding 6 hits, 4 walks and 3 runs over 5 innings.

Regardless, Arrieta's point was that the Cubs designate an opposing hitter "that we aren't going to let beat us."

Not surprisingly, Harper was that Washington player. He was walked 13 times in the four-game series, including six times Sunday.

Oh, did we mention that Arrieta inadvertently hit Harper with a pitch?

No, the Cubs weren't going to let Harper beat them and the Cubs swept them out of town in four games.

"We just know how good he is," Maddon said of Harper. "If the other guy (Zimmerman) gets you, I have no problem with that."

Some of the 40,233 fans in Wrigley Field arrived with the expectation of an Arrieta-Harper matchup, hot pitcher against great hitter.

Wasn't going to happen; the Cubs were intent on exercising discretion instead.

Nobody should have been surprised that the Cubs chose twice to intentionally walk Harper to load the bases.

Deadspin.com research indicates that, since intentional walks were included in statistics in 1955, only twice was a batter walked with the bases already loaded.

Buck Showalter, managing Arizona at the time, did it to Barry Bonds in 1998.

"It might not have been good," Showalter said, "but it was better than the other option we had."

The other manager who intentionally walked a batter to force in a run was a guy named Joe Maddon, the manager in Tampa Bay at the time, who gave Josh Hamilton a free RBI.

"I've done it," Maddon said, confirming the 2008 move.

Further Deadspin research indicates that managers walked in a run on purpose five times before 1955, the oddest being in 1901.

White Sox manager Clark Griffith put himself in the game as a reliever, walked a batter with the bases loaded and retired the next three to secure the victory.

Arrieta insisted that he didn't walk Harper on purpose the first two times he faced him. He just didn't have the command of his pitches to throw them where he intended.

Then, though, Arrieta did say of Harper, "He's a big weapon of theirs."

Now it'll be interesting to see whether the Cubs' "genius" gives the Nats' "weapon" even one pitch to hit when the teams reconvene at Washington in June.

mimrem@dailyherald.com